Chapter 1339 Hiding

Chapter 1339 Hiding

Chapter 1339 Hiding
On June 16th, it rained heavily and Murong Biao hurriedly drove into Xuantu County.

The atmosphere in the county city was quite good, especially the Wuhuan leader Kuli Guanxi, who laughed loudly. It was because the tribe had just defeated a cavalry of the Yuwen Xianbei and captured and killed more than 2,000 people, which was a great victory.

The battle process was not complicated. They lured them into Liaoze, took advantage of their familiarity with the geography, cut off their retreat, and then besieged them from all sides, winning a great victory.

In comparison, the victory achieved by Zhu Hun was insignificant. They only killed less than a hundred people, but they seized 1,500 horses, obviously looting a horse pasture. Not only did they obtain a large number of war horses, but they also made it impossible for an unknown Liang army to move, forcing it to retreat in disgrace.

When Murong Biao returned to the prefect's mansion, the two men were still chatting and laughing, completely ignoring the expressions of others.

"Governor." When seeing Murong Biao, the prefect Liu Pei stepped forward and saluted.

When others saw this, they also bowed.

Murong Biao nodded and sat down.

He was young and was very worried about being looked down upon, so he usually did not show much expression on his face, making it difficult for people to guess what he was thinking.

To be honest, this doesn't do much.

This isn't office politics, who the hell wants to play this with you? They are all old hooligans, old bandits, and old military leaders who have killed many people. The only thing that can seduce them is violence that is stronger than theirs. Pretending to be sophisticated will not work.

"This morning a messenger crossed Liaoze and brought a letter." Murong Biao said, "The battle has already started in Jicheng, and Lan Bo is dead."

"What? Brother is dead?" Lan Huai suddenly stood up and said in surprise.

"Jinglu, Lanbo is dead. If Lan Rong dies again, you will be the only one who has the final say in the tribe." Kuli Guanxi said with a smile.

"Get out!" Lan Huai cursed in anger.

However, my heart did tremble a little.

Ku Li Guanxi didn't care and sat cross-legged on the felt carpet, smiling disdainfully.

His tribe is quite large, with about 20,000 to 30,000 people.

If the Xianbei is the largest grassland force today, then the second is obviously the Wuhuan. Their distribution area is so wide that it is astonishing. At the end of the Jin Dynasty, there were even a large number of Wuhuan living in Pingyuan County, and there were even more in Shangdang, which was not far from Luoyang.

However, the Wuhuan nation was on the verge of extinction.

After being annexed by the Tuoba, Yuwen and Murong families on the grasslands and assimilated into the Han people in the Central Plains, there are not many Wuhuan tribes that still maintain their traditional nomadic customs and have a certain degree of independence.

The Kuliguan clan was originally a large Wuhuan clan in Yuyang, Youzhou. Later they dispersed to various places. Among the auxiliary troops that followed the Yinqiang Zuoying to attack Tuhe a while ago, there was a Wuhuan from Youzhou. The leader of the troops was named Kuliguanwei, who was only fifteen years old.

Coincidentally, Kuli Guanxi had been grazing near Tuhe for many years and was once under the command of Murong Han. He often entered Liaoxi to fight with the Duan tribe of the Xianbei, so that they were called "another species of the Xianbei" and "the Tuhe species of the Xianbei."

In fact, this is not wrong. Wuhuan and Xianbei both originated from Donghu, and most of their customs are the same. How can they be so clearly distinguished? Perhaps this is one of the main reasons for the gradual demise of Wuhuan.

The Wuhuan clans such as the Kuliguan clan and the Qi clan have always been of high status and are not afraid of the Xiongnu remnants such as the Lan clan. What's wrong with joking? Are you here to fight me?
"Enough!" Murong Biao slammed the table and said angrily.

Only then did everyone calm down.

"Jicheng will be fine for the time being. Let's talk about it. Has there been any loss recently?" Murong Biao said with a stern face after looking around.

"There is still no news from my family. I don't know what happened." The noble of Qu Tu clan stood up and said, "When we retreated, my family was divided into two groups. My brother and I each led a group. He led the strong and brave to cover the rear, and I led the elderly, weak, women and children to go ahead. As a result, we lost news halfway. When we arrived in Goguryeo yesterday, I asked people about it, but there was no news."

The "Goguryeo" mentioned by Qu Tushi refers to the seat of Goguryeo County, Xuantu County, located between Fushun and Shenyang in later times. This county has a long history. It was originally located in the Gaema Plateau area of ​​Korea, and later moved inland to manage the Goguryeo people in the east.

Now most of the people in Goguryeo County are still Goguryeo people, but the Goguryeo Kingdom has been established in the east. However, the people of Goguryeo County do not get along with the Goguryeo Kingdom because the two sides often fight and are often robbed, and the hatred is not small.

"Don't think about it. My family has lost more than a thousand people, but they are just the elderly, the weak, women and children." Someone said, "The people of the Twelve Yuwen tribes are chasing us very quickly. It's not good for those who stay in the west. It's safer to graze in Liaoze, but not that safe. I think the Liang people will enter Liaoze sooner or later to search. It's better to fight them."

"How can we fight in Liaoze?" Someone disagreed, saying, "Didn't the heavy rain yesterday wake you up? It's raining again today. I think Liaoze will be flooded next. How can we fight?"

"It rains a lot in summer, why don't we withdraw all our troops here?" Someone else suggested, "The Crown Prince said that Xiangping is short of food and grass, so he wants to retreat to Xuantu. Why not gather our troops together and defeat the Liang people in Liaodong first?"

"Come to Xuantu, there is not enough pasture to share."

"Yeah, let's divide the pasture first. We can't keep going this way. The grass roots are almost dug up."

"If we want to have enough pasture, we can't give up Liaoze. It's such a large area with abundant grass and water. Even if the water level rises, we still have a place to live."

"How about the north? How about going north to graze?"

"Someone has already gone there."

The nobleman of the tribe started talking to himself, not taking Murong Biao seriously at all. "Pa!" He slapped the table again and said, "Contact the crown prince first and see what he says."

"Commander-in-chief, although Xiangping is not under siege, there are still Liang soldiers there, and it is not easy to contact them." Liu Pei suggested: "Why not inspect the troops and go south to lift the siege of Xiangping first, and then make plans."

Murong Biao calculated the strength at hand.

Recently, nearly 70,000 to 80,000 herdsmen have flocked to Xuantu. After some selection, there are still 20,000 strong men, but it is still not enough.

There were also 70,000 to 80,000 people in Liaoze, but they were scattered and difficult to gather in a hurry. A while ago, Ningyuan General Murong Khan was ordered to repair Xiandu City and take charge of the city, commanding the scattered tribes that took refuge to the west of Liaoshui River. Xiandu was an old county in the Han Dynasty, and the hub of the coastal road (from Shanhaiguan to Liaoyang) across Liaoze. It was a rare dry place in hundreds of miles of mud, standing like an isolated island in the swamp, and most of the roads were submerged in summer.

He should have a harder time than I did, because it was troublesome to notify each tribe one by one. Xiandu City was not big, and the surrounding areas could only accommodate about 10,000 people at most. The other 60,000 to 70,000 people were scattered in the quagmire 300 miles west of Liaoshui River.

Of course, they are not that dangerous.

The terrain was such a mess that even if the Liang people went in, they would be divided into pieces by swamps, rivers, and sandbanks, unless they forced their way into building bridges and roads, or even sailing on dry land.

Apart from these two large areas, there are the people from Yiwulü Mountain and Tuhe, but no one knows what has happened to them.

In addition, Murong Biao vaguely heard that because there was not enough room for them, Murong Khan sent Zhang Ying and Feng Yu to lead more than 30,000 Hu and Han people eastward to Xiangping to meet Crown Prince Jun.

The attack of the "million-strong" Liang army caused chaos among the Yan State. In order to avoid the attack, a large number of tribal people were relocated, which was also quite troublesome.

After thinking for a long time, Murong Biao sighed and said, "Well, select 5,000 cavalrymen to go south and join the crown prince to see if we can defeat the Liaodong bandits."

At this point, he couldn't help but glance at everyone and asked, "How many people from the Yuwen clan came?"

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Who would know this? Even if you captured a young general from the Yuwen family, he might not know.

Murong Biao knew at once that he had asked in vain, and said, "Shao's move is really vicious. In the past, when the Central Plains dynasties attacked the grasslands, they never made such a big detour? And I have never seen them fight like shepherds."

After hearing this, Xuantu Prefect Liu Pei sighed secretly.

Indeed, even during the Han Dynasty, many grassland tribes surrendered to the Central Plains dynasty, and most of them were settled in border counties and used as de facto border defense forces.

During the Later Han Dynasty, the Xianbei gradually rose to power, and several Wuhuan and Xiongnu tribes in Liao territory repeatedly cooperated with the governor to send troops, but they were all defeated later.

This was the first time that the Tuoba and Yuwen tribes joined forces to launch a large-scale attack.

Fortunately, the Goguryeo people stopped their troops and waited and did not advance. They seemed to have understood the principle of "the lips and the teeth are cold when one is gone" and no longer cooperated with the Liang people.

If Yuwen could be persuaded to withdraw his troops at this time, the overall situation would be stable, but this is too difficult.

"General, don't just think about the south." Kuli Guanxi suddenly said, "Although there are hundreds of miles of mud and swamps in the west, it's not that difficult to travel in the north. If the Liang people come on horseback, we will need a large army to resist them. Although I don't know how many people they have, it is certain that the one leading the troops is the Shanyu Grand Protector Shao Shen. Where is he, General? Do you know?"

Murong Biao was shocked when he heard this.

So far, most of the reports of defeat or victory received came from the hilly and mountainous areas west of the Liao River. This gives people the impression that the Liang army first went south to Changli County, then turned east and pressed towards the Liaoze. But the question is, how do you know that they will not split up halfway? If you were the commander of the army, what would you do? You would definitely split up the troops.

Apart from other things, the grassland along the marching route is limited, and it is impossible to gather a large number of people, horses and livestock together.

Will they go directly to the north of Xuantu County? Although there is also a swamp there, it is not as boundless as Liaoze, and there are more dry places. It is very likely.

Thinking of this, Murong Biao became a little nervous.

The nobles of the tribes signaled with their eyes, also showing some nervousness.

"There are thieves everywhere!" Murong Biao was so angry that he slammed the table three times and his defense broke down.

Liu Pei coughed lightly, signaling him to control his temper and pay attention to the impact.

Murong Biao quickly came to his senses and said, "Send three thousand cavalrymen south to contact the crown prince. Send people to Xiandu to borrow some soldiers and horses."

Liu Pei took note of it secretly, then called his confidants and asked them to immediately arrange someone to pass the message - of course, it was not his turn to mobilize troops, he just sent someone to inform them.

The nobles of various tribes were distracted.

That night, they all sent people to the west, rushing west to see if they could contact their fathers and brothers who were still in Jicheng. Everyone was keenly aware that this time the Liang army's attack on Liao was different from the previous Central Plains dynasties' expeditions to the grasslands, and the degree of danger was rare in ancient times.

This thief Shao is such a jerk!

(End of this chapter)