Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 109 Don’t teach Huma to cross Yinshan Mountain

After letting Kobe escape, although Zhang Yu believed that Kobe would lead his troops back, he still couldn't help worrying that Kobe would never come back.

To be on the safe side, Zhang Yu deliberately let go of several Hu people and asked them to go back and report to Qian Man that Ke Bi was leading the Han army. He also proposed a plan to harass the tribe to prevent Ke Bi from joining Qian Man.

Zhang Yu actually secretly complained about his attempt to subdue Kobe. After all, if he kept a tiger by his side and failed to tame it, it would easily backfire.

Although it was painful, Zhang Yu, who had great ambitions, actually enjoyed it. After all, training a dog was boring and was not as good as training a tiger!

If you can tame a tiger and use it for your own benefit, the pleasure will be beyond words!
In the past, Liu Bang was able to control the heroes and fight for his dominance over the world. But if he could not tame the unborn tiger Kobe, how could he fight for dominance over the world with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others?
Zhang Yu might have been worried before, doubting that he was not capable enough to compete with Yuan, Cao and others for hegemony, but as he took charge of the troops and got to know the heroes in depth, Zhang Yu's ambition continued to grow. If they could compete for hegemony over the world, why couldn't he give it a try?

If the army is defeated, it will be worth my life in this troubled time!
A nine-story tower starts with a pile of earth; a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

After separating from Kirby, according to the previous plan, Zhang Yu led his troops south, entered the Great Wall from the ancient city of Wuyao, and entered the ancient county of Yunzhong.

Wuyao City was an important military defense town in the north during the Western Han Dynasty. It was surrounded by mountains and rivers on the east and west, and the only passable road was the north-south road.

In the past, King Wuling of Zhao adopted the Hu clothing and rode and shot, opened up Yunzhong County to the west, and built the Great Wall of Zhao. He built Wuyao City based on the terrain of Yinshan Mountain. After Emperor Wu of Han recovered Hetao, he reinforced Wuyao City. Unfortunately, by the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wuyao City had been abandoned due to the decline of border affairs.

Wuyao City was used as a place to station troops. It was surrounded by rivers and had lush grass and water, making it convenient for farming. It is now occupied by an unknown Xianbei tribe with a population of about two thousand people.

When Zhang Yu heard the intelligence, in order to prevent the Wuyao Hu tribe from noticing, he immediately ordered Zhang Liao and Li Song to lead 500 cavalry each to attack the Wuyao Hu tribe, while he stayed behind with 300 cavalry to guard the spoils.

Zhang Yu did not command the battle in this battle, but actually intended to train Zhang Liao and Li Song's ability to lead troops. After all, a thousand cavalrymen fighting against a tribe of more than two thousand people is an advantageous situation. If he does not train his generals in an advantageous situation, does he have to wait until a disadvantageous situation occurs?

In the early morning, Li and Zhang led their troops to attack Wuyao's tribe. At noon, the two tribes sent news that they had defeated Wuyao's Hu tribe.

In the afternoon, when Zhang Yu arrived at the ancient city of Wuyao accompanied by his cavalry, he saw Han cavalry hunting Hu cavalry and the battlefield was in a mess. At dusk, as the roving horses returned with Hu heads hanging on their heads, a large number of fleeing Hu people were captured, which represented the demise of the Wuyao Hu tribe.

In the abandoned city of Wuyao, a fire had already been lit and the soldiers were busy preparing meals.

Summoning all the generals, Zhang Yu said to them, "The Wu Yao tribe has many people. I have seen many Hu people fleeing. I am afraid that the news of my tribe has leaked out."

Shi Yi hesitated for a moment and said, "I am leading the cavalry to patrol outside and hunt many escaped Hu. There should be no fish that escaped. Let me ask the soldiers again!"

"no need!"

Zhang Yu waved his hand and said, "The Hu people live here and know the terrain around Wuyao. If they sneak among the mountains, they will not be found by outsiders."

"We still don't have enough soldiers today!" Zhang Yuwei sighed.

Zhang Yu now has a thousand cavalrymen under his command, which is considered a large cavalry unit in the inner counties and can even determine the direction of a battle. But if placed on the grassland, the thousand cavalrymen under Zhang Yu's command are not enough.

A thousand cavalrymen were used to prevent the Hu people from plundering the border, and to cooperate with local soldiers and officials, as well as the left and southern Xiongnu soldiers. It was barely enough, and if they wanted to take the initiative to attack outside the border, a thousand cavalrymen were not enough. Now, while Qian Man was leading the army to the expedition, Zhang Yu led his troops to plunder outside the border, which was a good idea.

After going out of the border, Zhang Yu had fewer cavalrymen, so he basically plundered small tribes. After all, large tribes were difficult to attack, and they would create a lot of noise, making it easier to reveal the whereabouts of his troops.

"How's the harvest now?" Zhang Yu asked.

"My Lord, our army has beheaded more than 300 people and captured more than 800 Hu people. In addition to the Hu people, there are more than 20 families who claim to be Han people, about 100 people."

Yu Yi took out the bamboo slips, looked at the battle results reported by various tribes, and said: "As for horses, there are more than 1,300 horses, more than 7,000 cattle and sheep, more than 600 dan of grain, and many other things."

Zhang Liao was surprised and said, "The livestock of the two tribes combined is not as much as that of the Wuyao tribe. How can the Wuyao Hu tribe be so rich?"

"The grasslands in the south of Yin are fertile and easy to cultivate, which is richer than the foothills in the north of Yin. Therefore, the Xiongnu became strong after gaining control of Shuofang. But now the Xianbei often want to invade and occupy Shuofang and use it as a place to graze sheep and cattle." Zhang Yu said.

As he spoke, Zhang Yu looked at the deserted Wuyao City and sighed, "If the Han people take Shuofang, they can control the south of the desert. If the Hu people take Shuofang, they will be able to look to Hexi and Yandai. If the flying general of Longcheng is here, how can the Hu horses cross Yinshan Mountain?"

"If I were in power, I would drive the evil Hu out of Yinshan and recover our northern counties!"

Hearing this, Yu Yi looked at Zhang Yu and couldn't help but feel admiration.

In fact, when he first started working for Zhang Yu, he was prejudiced against the warriors in the army, and even disagreed with what Zhang Yu did, such as capturing Hu women and marrying them to officers in the army, or killing too many people when he went out to the border.

But now, as he became more and more familiar with the situation on the border, he gradually understood the thoughts of the soldiers in the army, and even more so what they did.

However, Zhang Yu had great ambitions. When he proposed to drive the evil Hu people out of Yinshan Mountain and recover the various counties in Shuofang, Yu Yi regarded him as a hero.

While chatting and laughing, Hao Zhao came over awkwardly and said with a bow, "My lord, my subordinates and I have searched inside and outside and found something that we would like to present to you." "What is it?" Zhang Yu asked curiously.

Hao Zhao hesitated for a moment and said, "This thing is not a thing, it is a Hu woman. Zhaoguan and the soldiers saw that she was beautiful and wanted to present her to you, my lord."

Fearing that he would be criticized by Zhang Yu, Hao Zhao quickly said, "It is not my own idea, but the idea of all the subordinates to thank you for your generosity. You gave Hu women to the soldiers, but you did not accept them yourself, so we took the initiative to find a beautiful maid for you."

Zhang Yu shook his head and smiled. Although he was lustful, he was not so eager that he would even take advantage of the captured Hu women. Besides, last time he married Hu Yanyu, Li Suyi blamed him. If Wang Ji had not understood the general situation and persuaded Li Suyi to stop, he would have to appease her again.

Zhang Yu wanted to refuse, but considering his subordinates' good intentions, he couldn't refute, so he said, "Let the Hu girl in!"

"promise!"

Hao Zhao clapped his hands, and a Hu woman walked in.

Although the woman looked disheveled, Zhang Yu took a closer look and found that she was as pretty as Hao Zhao said. Compared with his wives and concubines, she was not as pretty as Li Suyi, who had been herding, riding and shooting since childhood. Not only that, her figure was a little shriveled, which made Zhang Yu not have much idea.

Zhang Yu glanced around and saw that Yu Yi was staring at the Hu woman and seemed to have a crush on her. He immediately had an idea.

Pointing at the Hu girl, Zhang Yu asked, "Shao Ran has come to Pingcheng alone, with no relatives or concubines to serve him. I think there are many inconveniences. I think this girl is beautiful, Shao Ran might as well take her as a concubine."

Yu Yi's face turned slightly red. Although he was tempted, his scholarly character prevented him from agreeing.

Yu Yi hesitated for a moment, then said solemnly, "This is what Lord Hao presented to you, my Lord. I cannot accept it."

"Bo Dao presented it to me, and now I give it to you, why not?"

Zhang Yu pretended to be dissatisfied and said, "If Shao Ran does not marry this girl, I will sentence him to death to avoid any further trouble."

"No!"

Yu Yi hurriedly said, "This woman is innocent, how can she be sentenced to death?"

Li Song saw Yu Yi's hesitation and advised, "Since it is a gift from you, Shao Ran should be accepted into your house. If Shao Ran does not accept her, this girl will die because of you. Is this what a gentleman should do?"

With the opportunity provided by Li Song, Yu Yi reluctantly said, "Thank you for your gift, my Lord!"

"it is good!"

Zhang Yu smiled a few times, took Yu Yi's arm, and said to everyone: "Since Yu Jun became the chief clerk in the army, he has been working diligently. You all have Hu wives, but Yu Jun has no one to take care of him. Isn't it empty?"

"Ha ha!"

Everybody laughed, except Yu Yi, who was embarrassed. He had been against giving Hu women to soldiers as wives or concubines, but now he had become one of them.

Thinking of this, Yu Yi glanced at the Hu woman, and seeing that she was also looking at him, he felt much happier. You must know that his family was poor, and it was not easy for him to get married in Yingchuan, let alone have such a beautiful woman as a concubine. As for being a Hu person, at most he could use poetry and books to educate him in the future.

Seeing the two of them secretly looking at each other, Zhang Yu became more and more proud. Although he had never heard of Yu Yi's name, he knew the Yingchuan Yu family. The Yu family prospered in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and became a prominent family following the founding of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. When it was passed down to Yu Liang, it was considered to have reached the peak of the Yu family.

After meeting Yu Yi, he realized that although Yu Yi's talent was not as good as Zhong Yao and Du Ji, he had the talent of a prefecture-level official. If Yu Yi could be brought back to Zhang Yu, it would be of great help to Zhang Yu at the moment.

However, Zhang Yu did not know that the rise of the Yu family began with Yu Yi's generation. After the establishment of Cao Wei, Yu Yi and Chen Qun jointly formulated the laws of Cao Wei, and he was promoted to the position of Taipu Qing, one of the Nine Ministers, which was far more than a talent of a prefecture or county.

That night, Zhang Yu and his officials rested for a night in the abandoned city of Wuyao, and then headed south along the road.

Because the Wuyao tribe was destroyed, many Hu people fled. The Han army went south from the old city of Wuyao to the old city of Chengle, a distance of more than 200 miles. On the way, they only encountered two small tribes. When the two small tribes saw the fierce Han army, they resisted a little and then surrendered smoothly.

When the army arrived at Baiqu River (Chi Lechuan) on April 20th, the 1,300 Han cavalry had captured more than 3,000 people and found more than 200 Han people from the Hu group. They also seized 2,100 horses, more than 19,000 cattle and sheep, hundreds of stones of food and fodder, and countless furs. It was a rich harvest.

When Zhang Yu led his troops to Baiqu River, Zhang Ji had been waiting there for a long time.

At the same time, Lu Bu, who had long been heard of but never seen in person, appeared here with Zhang Ji.

"Book of Tang·Biographies 8": "Yu Yi, courtesy name Shaoran, was from Yanling, Yingchuan. His father Cheng...Yi was studious and talented when he was young, and initially served in a prefecture. He met Taizu in Yingchuan, and Yi thought that Taizu was an extraordinary person, so he became friends with him. ... When Taizu led his troops to defend the frontier, Yi abandoned his post and ran away, running a thousand miles. Taizu was very pleased and appointed him as the chief clerk, and he followed him from then on."

(End of this chapter)