Shu Chen

Chapter 296
The Hexi Corridor is sparsely populated, and due to the combination of agriculture and animal husbandry, the common people rarely live together in the city.

This made the strength of the Han army who entered Wuwei County to appease Li Shu somewhat stretched.

In the past, Wei State's implementation of "border people governing the border" has made counties and counties out of order. In order to panic, the Han army needs to station hundreds or thousands of people in each county, so as to suppress the riots and guard against some people who take the opportunity to rob the people, report personal grievances and other ulterior motives.

This made Zheng Pu not have enough troops to continue going west.

Because Ma Dai and Jiang Wei's cavalry also went to pursue the bandit Ke Wu's tribe.

However, Hu Boju came to visit that day, although Zheng Pu lied and knew that the person who killed Xuanwei City was Ke Wu, but when he held a banquet and talked, he asked Hu Boju to give a detailed account of the three of them who returned from Lingju. go through.

Finally, I know the reason why they can quietly rush back to Hexi.

First, thanks to the abundance of livestock in the Hexi Corridor and the abundance of people who are good at riding and shooting.

All three of them followed the expedition with one man and two riders. When fleeing from the battlefield, the horse rested and the man did not rest, so they marched very fast and did not have the trouble of killing horses for food. They rushed to Guzang County almost at the same time as Ma Dai's tribe.

The other is that they did not choose to take the official route, and along the way, Li and Shu were already panicked due to the defeat of the Hexi coalition forces, and they closed their homes and dared not go out, so no one noticed.

But along the way, Huang Hua and Ke Wu are in the front, and Hu Bo is in the rear.

The two sides were separated for about ten miles.

Gein had clashed several times with Kewu because of competing for pastures in Xiutuze. Now Huang Hua and Kewu have joined forces with nearly [-] cavalry, and Hu Boju, who has only [-] tribesmen, has to be careful. For the top.

In the beginning, both parties were in a hurry and ignored each other.

After arriving at Guzang County, seeing that Ma Dai's troops had already arrived, Huang Hua and Ke Wu brought several retinues to invite Hu Boju to discuss future affairs together.

To be precise, they came to invite Hu Boju to go to Jiuquan County to prepare for the war.

The scheming Huang Hua moves with profit and understands reason, and paints a bright future for the future of the three of them.

It was based on the fact that he could send envoys to Guanzhong to inform Sima Yi of the fiasco in the battle of Lingju, and that Guanzhong would inevitably send troops in advance to harass Longyou and the fortress of Yuyin, and asserted that the Han army would not have many troops coming to the Hexi Corridor.

At least, if the three of them joined forces, together with Zhangye County's prefect Cangci's garrison soldiers, it would be enough to maintain an undefeated situation and stop the Han army in Wuwei County.

Afterwards, the Luoyang Temple heard that they were in charge of Shu, and they would definitely bestow officials and nobles with generous fiefdoms and encouragement.

Cangci is upright and strict, and has never had the heart to fight for power and profit, so the Hexi Corridor must be owned by the three of them in the future!
But a pity.

Huang Hua, who was almost moved even by his impassioned speech, did not impress Hu Boju.

Because of Hu Bo's position, he was able to be appointed by the State of Wei to Master Baosai in the past, not only because of the strength of his tribe, but also because of his scheming and means.Therefore, he also knew that no matter how condescending Huang Hua and Ke Wu are now to seek joint efforts, they will definitely cross the river and tear down the bridge as soon as the matter is accomplished.

Without him, the strength of the two of them is enough to destroy Hu Boju's tribe, so why allow one more person to divide the benefits?
Therefore, Hu Boju pushed the matter down on the grounds that he belonged to Shuofang to protect Liu Bao, and he needed to report back before he could make a decision.

Huang Hua and Ke Wu were somewhat dissatisfied with this.

But maybe they felt that there was still a ray of hope in the matter, or they were afraid that the Han army would not dare to meet with them and hurt themselves, so they just let Hu Boju make a decision as soon as possible and then dispersed.

Huang Hua returned to Jiuquan County on a part-time basis.

The tribes of Hu Bojuzizhi and Kewu both lived in Xiutuze, so they faced each other along the way.

When they arrived at Xuanwei City, Ke Wu went into the city to relieve his exhaustion because of his friendship with the city guard, while Hu Boju continued to walk for several miles and slept in the wilderness.

It was also because of this that he was awakened by the sound of fighting at night.

They sent out scouts to investigate, and happened to encounter Ke Wu's soldiers slaughtering the city.

At that time, after listening to Zheng Pu, he roughly deduced Ke Wu's marching route.

Since he intends to work together with Huang Hua to resist, he will naturally move all the tribes to Jiuquan County.

And it just so happens that before the Yanzhi Corridor from Wuwei County to Zhangye County, there are Xianmei, Fanhe and two counties, both of which are inhabited by Lushuihu.

But Lu Shuihu didn't even know about Kewu's return to Hexi, so it can be concluded that he traveled along the northern foot of Longshou Mountain, passing through Zhaowu County in Zhangye County and entering Biaoshi County in Jiuquan County.

In the same way, Zheng Pu hastily recruited Ma Dai and Jiang Wei, and let them gallop after them—in the severe winter with continuous wind and snow, there are women, children, cattle, sheep, war horses, and horses. The trip of the thief Ke Wu must be unhappy. People can catch up.

Even if they couldn't catch up, the two of them turned into partial divisions that delayed the soldiers and horses of Jiuquan County, so that Huang Hua and Ke Wu dared not lead the army to join forces in the Yanzhi Corridor where the Zhangye prefect Cangci garrisoned.

However, before Jiang Wei led the army, he specially asked Zheng Pu to write two letters in handwriting.

To Pang Hao and Yang Feng respectively.

It's not a letter of persuasion. With Jiang Wei's wisdom, he would not have such an unrealistic delusion.

Rather, he knew that Prime Minister Zhuge Liang had given Pang Yu the "Thousand Characters" written by Zheng Pu, so he asked Zheng Pu to ask Pang and Yang to let go of their prejudices and use their prestige in the county to recommend some rangers to serve as the Han army. Eyes and ears, let the Han army know the whereabouts of the Kewu thief well, and then have the opportunity to kill him in one fell swoop!

The reason to convince them is that Kewu slaughtered the city.

In Xuanwei City, there are not only Li Shu people, but also soldiers guarding the frontier. In any case, they should not be killed wantonly by the Zhongqiang tribe who migrated from Jincheng County.Pang Yu and Yang Feng's little effort is also seeking justice for innocent Li Shu and soldiers, which is not contrary to the "righteousness" they stick to in their hearts.

Of course, this is the result Jiang Wei expected.

But even if Pang Yu and Yang Feng refused, there would be no loss for the Han army.

Let's give it a try, if it succeeds, it will be a surprise, and if it fails, there will be no thoughts.

After Ma Dai and Jiang Wei left [-] cavalry soldiers, it is not surprising that Zheng Pu, who had only supervised more than [-] soldiers marching into Wuwei County, was temporarily stretched.

In this regard, Fei Yi, Zhuge Qiao and others all suggested that we should first appease Wuwei County, and then write a letter to ask Wei Yan to dispatch some troops after Wei Yan broke Jincheng County.

But Zheng Pu thought otherwise.

The great victory in the battle of Helingju came. If the Han army did not take the opportunity to recover the counties, but let those loyalists against Wei have time to stabilize the morale of the army, wouldn't it make the battle more difficult and cause more soldiers to die?

Furthermore, with the main force of Niwei Guanzhong on the side again, in order to prevent the imperial court from falling into the loss of two-line battles, every second must be counted to restore the counties in Hexi!
Therefore, after much deliberation, he rushed to Xianmei County under the guard of his subordinates and entered Liao Hua's military camp.

As soon as they met, they bowed their hands and bowed, "Please General Liao to send me a messenger to tell Niwei Cang Xiaoren that I want to invite him to speak before the battle."

(End of this chapter)