I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 948: Unmoving as a mountain
"Oh? Liangzhou is rebelling again?"

"It seems that what is coming will always come."

While on the march, Su Yao did not show much surprise when he received the military report from the front.

The reason is also very simple.

Compared with other states and counties he conquered during the war of unification, Liangzhou only surrendered in name, and Ma Teng could not represent the entire Liangzhou power at all.

Although Liangzhou was relatively obedient in the early days due to his military and civil administration, that could not change its nature of warlord separatism.

This is especially true considering that there are more than 10,000 Liangzhou troops who surrendered to Dong Zhuo stationed around Luoyang City.

Su Yao had already appointed these people as officers in his garrisons, and they were destined to return to their hometown in Liangzhou.

This is an irreconcilable contradiction between the two sides.

The current warlords in Xiliang cannot tolerate these remnants of Dong Zhuo sharing profits with them.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the Western Expedition, Su Yao would never allow such an important channel as the Hexi Corridor to fall into the hands of a group of warlords whose loyalty was questionable.

Therefore, when they learned that the general was heading west to fight and was taking Dong Zhuo's old subordinates from Xiliang with him, Han Sui and others rebelled once again as expected.

However, Su Yao was not without any preparation for this. For example, before that, Su Yao took the opportunity to summon the princes of Liangzhou to attack Yizhou and slightly moved their garrisons.

However, Ma Chao was still young at the time and had not had time to build up any prestige among the Qiang people. This time, Su Yao transferred him and some other people out of Wuwei, where the Qiang people were entrenched, thus directly preventing Ma Chao from rebelling.

Su Yao nodded slowly and asked, "What did Commander Lu in Guanzhong say? I think he should have taken action by now, right?"

"Tang Wang is wise!"

The messenger respectfully presented Lü Bu's military report:

"Commander-in-Chief Lu has led 3,000 elite cavalrymen to rush through Longguan Road at night and head straight for Hanyang."

The south of the mountains and the north of the water are called Yang, so Hanyang is Tianshui.

Ancient books say that Han is the Milky Way.

In the pre-Qin period, this place was discovered to be the source of the West Han River, so it was named Tianshui. It was renamed Hanyang during the reign of Emperor Ming.

The Longguan Road that Lu Bu took was the most important passage from Guanzhong to Tianshui.

During the Three Kingdoms period, a battle that changed history broke out here, the Battle of Jieting.

However, this time, the rebels did not have time to deploy defenses in Longguan Road.

This rebellion came suddenly, and Lu Bu had already received Su Yao's warning and was paying close attention.

As soon as Lu Bu, who had stationed troops in Guanxi for a long time, received the news of the Xiliang people's unusual movements from Ma Chao, he immediately sent out troops.

"General Lu is very fast. If we can take Longguan Road, our army will be able to advance westward without any hindrance."

Jia Xu praised immediately.

Su Yao unfolded the map and ran his finger over the Longshan Mountains: "The old thief Han Sui chose this time to rebel, which saved us a lot of trouble."

Cao Cao leaned in to take a closer look and said, "That's what the King of Tang said."

"The generals of Liangzhou have their own ulterior motives. They have hastily started the rebellion this time. They must have heard that our army is heading west and are afraid of being liquidated." Su Yao sneered, "If that's the case, we can just catch them all in one fell swoop."

Jia Xu coughed lightly and said, "Your Highness, Han Sui is a cunning and resourceful man. He conspired with Bian Zhang, Beigong Boyu and others to rebel, but he was able to turn against his allies and seize power. He is definitely not a fool. I'm afraid that the Western Regions Hu merchants are behind this rebellion."

"So what?" Su Yao laughed, "In the face of absolute strength, all conspiracies and tricks are futile."

"It would be fine if these Hu merchants don't intervene. If they do, it will give us a good excuse to sweep across the Western Regions."

Then, Su Yao gave the order: "The army should speed up and advance."

"At the same time, let Lu Bu and Ma Chao attack with their entire armies, and encircle Han Sui from the southeast, to open up a path for our army!" At this time, in Jincheng County, Liangzhou.

Han Sui sat high in the hall, with his Han and Qiang generals standing on both sides, and several Sogdian merchants with high noses, deep eyes and thick beards standing below.

The reason these people gathered together was naturally to discuss how to deal with Su Yao's threat.

Frankly speaking, after learning of Su Yao's death, the Xiliang princes had celebrated wildly, discussed the pattern of the post-Su Yao era, and made a pact to advance and retreat together.

Later, Su Yao came back to life and suddenly said that he wanted to set up a company and manage the Western Region, which immediately frightened everyone.

Many people said that the general wanted to attack Guo through the enemy's territory, but his real intention was not to attack Guo.

After all, the countries in the Western Regions were far away, and the imperial court had always set up protectorates or chief governors' offices to control them, and had never thought of directly ruling them.

Right now they are not causing any trouble and are taking a wait-and-see attitude. Why don't you, Su Yao, send an envoy to appease and inquire about the situation? Instead, you directly and loudly announce that you want to turn the entire Western Regions into Han territory. Isn't this bullshit?
No matter how ambitious you are, there must be a limit.

Even if you really have this idea, there is no need to publicize it.

Doesn't this force people to band together in advance to prepare to oppose you?

"This must be Su Yao's conspiracy!"

"His real target is us in Liangzhou."

"If we let his army enter the heart of Liang Province and reach the city, a small official can kill us!"

The heroes of Liangzhou reached a consensus immediately after meeting.

That guy named Su is definitely not a good person.

Now the thirteen states in the world are all promoting the new policy and doing things like separation of military and politics. Only Liangzhou is left with more than a dozen colonels, generals and prefects who are in charge of both military and political affairs. It is obvious that the Su man will not let them go easily.

So, when they learned the news, they immediately began to prepare for war.

However, no one expected that Su Yao’s army would be so fast.

In their impression, an army of 100,000 would take several months to prepare.
Especially now that autumn has arrived, it would be unsuitable to fight a war if we wait until winter to complete the preparations. It might be early spring next year before the army can actually set out.

However, none of them expected that in just one month, Su Yao's army would actually set out from Luoyang, as if they were going to finish the job by autumn.

What's more terrible is that many local families in Liangzhou are now loyal to the imperial court and have leaked their plans in advance.
"General, Su Yao's army is coming fiercely, and Lu Bu from Guanzhong has already passed Longguan Road and will reach Tianshui soon. Please send troops to rescue them as soon as possible!"

The person who brought the news was the confidant of Tianshui General Liang Xing.

As the first princes to face Su Yao, they were not unprepared.

However, the power of Lu Bu's Bingzhou cavalry was beyond imagination. They were caught off guard and their defense line of Longguan Road was directly breached. Liang Xing did not dare to fight them in the field, so he retreated to the city to defend and asked Han Sui for help.

This sudden change obviously shocked everyone in Jincheng.

The army was shaken, so Han Sui tried to appease them and told Liang Xing to defend the city and he would send troops to support them as soon as possible.

However, after that man left, Han Sui suddenly changed his attitude and said that his side must not send troops easily.

"what?!"

"Aren't you going to send troops to rescue?"

"This"

Everyone was shocked, but Han Sui remained calm and said:
"Since we have lost the Guanlong Road, our army has already lost the initiative. If we rush out rashly, we may be surrounded and attacked."

Then, Han Sui tapped his finger heavily on the map: "Tianshui City is high and deep, with sufficient food and grass. Liang Xing has nearly 10,000 elite soldiers under his command. Let him guard the city for us first."

(End of this chapter)