Chapter 1003 You’ve come, don’t leave

Chapter 1003 You’ve come, don’t leave

Chapter 1003 You’ve come, don’t leave

A large team came from the northwest of Hehui City, with a total number of no less than 10,000 people. In the valley behind them, there were also many vehicles, cattle, horses, sheep and other livestock.

After seeing Hehui City, the hundreds of vanguard riders stopped far away.

A moment later, more than a thousand riders came forward. The leader was a man named Tufa Tuijin, who was strong and fat with a face full of flesh. After circling his horse around, he jumped off his horse.

He first looked at the well-growing grass by the river, then looked at the newly planted corn near the city this year, and remained silent.

To be honest, the Huangshui River Basin where they had grazed before was not much worse than here, but he just felt that it was not feasible and tried his best to go east.

There are actually many people who share the same idea as him.

Even though some pastures in the west are flat and endless, with good grass growth, they still want to move east.

First go to Jincheng, then to Guangwu, and then to Wuwei.

This process may require waiting for opportunities, or may take decades, but they are willing to do so.

After arriving in Wuwei, some people were satisfied and decided not to leave.

Some people were still not satisfied and wanted to continue going eastward to Anding, Lueyang, Nangan, Fufeng and other counties in Guanzhong.

There were actually tribes in the local area, and those tribes also wanted to go east. For example, Yao Yi Zhong led tens of thousands of people eastward, all the way from Nan'an to Fufeng.

What about the Tugu Xiongnu of Fufeng? They went to Xinping and Beidi further east.

Moving eastward is a trend. Everyone wants to come into contact with more advanced civilizations and live a better life.

This process began during the Later Han Dynasty, when tribes abandoned their pastures and moved eastward. The land they abandoned was then occupied by tribes from the west, and after a while, the tribes also left, leaving it to the next tribe.

The whole process continues to this day, and this is an important reason why the number of northern Hu people has increased year by year: they not only reproduce their own population, but also provide fresh blood for replenishment.

Tufa Tuijin also wanted to move eastward.

They are now grazing on both sides of the Huangshui River, and have also become vassals of many tribes in Xiping County, making their strength quite considerable.

Tufa Tuijin's dream was to occupy Hehui City of the Diqiang Dou clan.

He had had a chance. At that time, Dou Tao was supported by Zhang Gui and became the governor of Jincheng. He then continued to erode the power of the You family and gradually gained an advantage in the Nishui River Valley.

Tuoba Tuijin thought that Dou Tao would give up Hehui City because he had a good life. But who would have thought that after Dou Tao occupied the Nishui River Valley and became the largest noble family in the three counties of Guangwu County, and extended his influence to Jincheng and Yuzhong, he still did not give up Hehui City, but vigorously managed it, placed the core tribe in this area, and repeatedly expelled the Tuoba Xianbei who infiltrated here.

Thinking of this, Tufa Tuijin couldn't help but spit and said to himself: "Dou Tao is so greedy, he shuts the door tightly when he enjoys a good life, he deserves this fate."

As they were talking, another group of people came from the southwest. Their number was also very large, filling the entire valley, and it was impossible to tell how many people there were.

Tufa Tuijin sent someone to ask, and it turned out that it was people from the Qifu tribe who came.

This is a big tribe.

Before Tufa Shuji's rebellion, the Qifu tribe was inferior to the Tufa tribe.

After the Tubo Shuji Rebellion was put down, the Qifu tribe had surpassed them.

This tribe grazed in the western part of Longxi County and Jinxing County. They were widely distributed and relatively loosely organized, and were nominally under the management of Xin Yan, the general of Fuhan.

The Qifu tribe also received orders to attack Zhang's clan in Wuwei, but it took time to gather the men, so they set out ten days late.

When Tufa Tuijin saw these people, his heart tightened.

As a fellow Xianbei, how could he not know what Qifu was thinking? Jinxing County was relatively poor, with few Han people. Qifu could either go east to Longxi and then squeeze towards Tianshui, or simply go north to Jincheng and lean towards Wuwei.

To put it bluntly, they are competitors.

Now that Dou Tao is dead and his followers have fled in all directions, the question is who should take over Hehui City.

Tufa Tuijin snorted coldly, jumped on his horse, and rode away in a cloud of dust.

He was going to meet officials from the Jin Dynasty and had no time to deal with the people from the Qifu tribe.

******
On April 15, the day after Wen Qiao arrived in Hehui City, Jin Zheng arrived.

When the southern commander arrived, Wen Qiao should have gone back, but he couldn't leave yet and had to continue working while enduring the toothache.

Kim Jong-un is in charge of the military battle, and he is in charge of the political battle, that's all.

However, sometimes he would also provide some advice to Kim Jong.

"The Qingsai City defenders were waiting and watching. Once Xin Xuan was defeated, these thousand men joined Dong Guang." Wen Qiao pointed to the map on the table and said, "Xin Yan led his troops north and was defeated again, with more than a thousand casualties. From this, it can be seen that the combat strength of the soldiers in Liangzhou's south and north of the Lingnan Mountains is different. The Wuwei soldiers may be stronger, while the Fuhan soldiers are three points weaker."

After listening to this, Jin Zheng sneered and said, "Your Excellency does not know how to fight, so don't talk nonsense. Two armies, today I beat you, tomorrow you beat me, that's normal. If A beats B, B beats C, and you think A is stronger than C, I think you will suffer a great loss. Morale, physical strength, terrain, even epidemics and weather can all affect victory or defeat. If strong soldiers can definitely beat weak soldiers, then is there any need to fight in the world? Isn't it just a matter of comparing drill skills?"

Wen Qiao was not angry at all despite being criticized mercilessly by Jin Zheng. He just smiled and said, "I did not come from the military, so you have the final say." There are two kinds of commanders in the world.

One type is like Wen Qiao, who has learned both civil and military skills since elementary school and has read classics and military books. Once he becomes a commander, he does not start from the bottom, but is parachuted in directly, and then relies on the talents he has won over and even his own soldiers and generals to control the troops and command battles.

The other way is to start as a soldier, the so-called "starting from the ranks", and climb to the top step by step. Jin Zheng, Wang Que'er, Hou Feihu, Li Chong, Zhang Shuo and others all did this.

It is not clear who is stronger or weaker between the two types of commanders, it mainly depends on the person. But one thing is that the former is definitely not as familiar with the army as the latter, which is what Kim Jong-un said.

Wen Qiao still admired Jin Zheng very much, even though this guy always criticized him.

Jin Zheng is full of vigor and has an arrogant and unruly personality, like a sword drawn from its sheath, which can easily cut oneself.

If Jin Zheng was Wen Qiao's subordinate, he felt that he would only use this person to a limited extent and guard against him in every possible way. If it really didn't work, he would just kill him and be done with it.

But this does not prevent him from admiring this person, so even if Jin Zheng repeatedly speaks rudely, he will not be really angry.

"Jin Zhun just sent a military report that he has defeated Yanglie General Song Ji and captured and killed more than 3,000 people." Seeing that Wen Qiao did not argue with him, Jin Zheng felt that it was meaningless, so he talked about business: "He has gained an advantage along the way. I am worried that he will rush to Wuwei first."

"How many people does Song Ji have? Where do his troops come from?" Wen Qiao asked for details keenly.

"There are troops sent by Guzang, as well as the Xianbei people." After Jin Zheng finished speaking, he handed the general report to Wen Qiao.

Wen Qiao took a closer look and said, "He must have gathered them along the way. Zhang Gui defeated the Xianbei in the past, and this was a battle to establish his prestige. More than 100,000 people surrendered. Most of these Xianbei are descendants of Tubo Shuji who surrendered. There may also be some tribes that attached themselves to the Qifu clan many years ago but did not follow them to migrate south to Longxi and Jinxing."

"Who cares where they are from?" Jin Zheng sneered, "I've also seen the people of the Qifu clan and the Tufa clan. Their weapons are not as good as those of the Yao Yizhong tribe, not to mention the Xiongnu and Jie people. They are not very loyal either. After the defeat, I'm afraid many of them will surrender."

After hearing this, Wen Qiao thought for a moment and said, "Jin Zhun's victory is beneficial to the overall situation. His troops will advance rapidly along the northern foothills of Qilian, conquering tribes and forts along the way, and will soon be able to reach between Cangsong and Hongchi. Dong Guang will definitely not be able to hold on for long."

Kim Jong-un did not refute.

Although Wuwei County was large, there were actually few counties and towns from Guzang to the east to the Yellow River. It was mainly inhabited by nomadic tribes, namely the pastures of the Lushui Hu, Xianbei and other unknown miscellaneous Hu.

On the northern foothills of the Qilian Mountains, due to the presence of mountain meltwater and some seasonal rivers, there are some agricultural reclamation areas, mainly in the form of forts and manors.

After crossing the river, Jin Zhun's troops advanced along the northern foothills of the Qilian Mountains.

Theoretically, they could directly intercept the enemy's retreat at Hongchiling, but it depended on whether Jin Zhun was willing to do so.

"Jin Zhun came so quickly, but Wang Que'er's troops are nowhere to be seen. I don't think he will have anything to do in this battle." Jin Zheng suddenly sighed.

How many people envied Wang Que'er when he became the Chanyu Grand Protector? But it was difficult to display his abilities in Pingcheng. Now it seemed like a loss, unless Master Shao made other arrangements.

"Your Excellency, please stay here." Jin Zheng said again: "Your Majesty intends to set up a military town in Hehui, and this place will not be handed over. You can gather more of Dou Tao's remaining troops and don't let them fall into the hands of others. I——"

After saying that, he looked at the map and said, "This is heading north."

"Don't worry, General. I will cover your retreat." Wen Qiao said, cupping his hands.

Jin Zheng nodded and said no more.

On April 18, Jin Zheng headed north and arrived outside Qingsai City.

After suffering two consecutive defeats, Xin Yan and his son Xin Xuan learned from their mistakes and became braver. They defeated Dong Guang in a field battle and besieged Qingsai, breaking it in two days.

The two sides once again confronted each other along Hongchiling Mountain - this actually indirectly confirmed what Kim Jong-un said before, that victory or defeat is determined, but it is not set in stone.

Jin Zheng asked someone to get a rough understanding of the battle situation and learned that a young general named Huan Wen under Wen Qiao also joined the battle. He was mediocre and "got away" with the credit of maintaining peace with the army.

However, his troops had rapidly expanded to more than a thousand infantry and cavalry.

Jin Zheng vaguely remembered that Wen Qiao once had 500 cavalrymen under his command, which were considered soldiers from Longxi County and served as the vanguard.

In the Battle of Hehui, Huan Wen killed Dou Tao in battle and performed well, but his troops must have suffered losses.

At this time, he had expanded his force by more than a thousand infantry and cavalry. It was obvious that he had not been idle along the way, recruiting surrenders and rebels.

This person is quite interesting.

If he is a pure warrior who only knows how to fight and kill, then he will not consciously do such things.

Huan Wen was quite insightful, and instinctively knew how to expand his army and accumulate strength. If he was lucky, he would definitely be able to move up in the future, after all, he was Yu Liang's man.

"Pass the order down, send out all the light cavalry." After Jin Zheng arrived, the first order he gave was to the various tribes of the barbarians: "Go north around Hongchi Ridge, bring more horses, carry seven days' worth of food, and harass Guzang."

The second order was for the government soldiers: "Left and right Jinwu Guards, follow me to fight the enemy. Also urge the Left Yulin Guards and the Black Shield Right Camp to reach Qingsai within two days."

"Since Dong Guang is here, don't go back."

(End of this chapter)