Chapter 1213 Empty talk is still of no use


    天水.


    Within the main camp of the Xiliang coalition forces not far from Tianshui City, in a large tent, several torches tied to pillars illuminated the tent. In the middle of the tent, the Xiliang generals were sitting together. In the middle was a simple map, and at the bottom was the Xiliang scout who had just returned.


    “The troops conquering the west are marching eastward…”


    The Xiliang scouts who were sent to Shanggui were covered in dust and lowered their heads to report.


    Hearing the news, the Xiliang generals were confused, some secretly happy, some breathed a sigh of relief, and some frowned deeply.


    "What''s the point of this expedition to the west?" Cheng Yin stroked his beard and kept moving his eyes from side to side and said, "First send General Han to demonstrate with his armor, and then lead his troops back east without fighting?"


    "...Based on the current situation, if the expedition to the west is to advance westward, it will naturally take this place..." Ma Wan said, "The expedition to the west has reached Shanggui, which is only two days away from here, but now there is no fighting and no envoys. It’s really weird to retreat eastward like this…”


    Li Kan said: "Is it possible that the food supplies for the Western Expeditionary Army have been exhausted and they have to return?"


    Ma Wan waved his hand and said: "Hey, how is it possible? The Hanzhong reinforcements that marched to the west brought some reinforcements. If it is ten days and a half months later, it is possible. It has only been a few days now, how is it possible that the food will be exhausted? "


    Cheng Yi laughed loudly and said, "Or is Zheng Xi injured and wants to go back to Guanzhong to heal?"


    Duan Xuan frowned and said: "As far as I know, Zhengxi is not a general in front of the battle. He always stays in the middle army. He is not defeated at the moment. How can he be injured? In my opinion, it may be a ploy to lure troops?"


    Cheng Yin thought for a moment, nodded, and said: "General Duan is right, it is indeed possible. The terrain of Shanggui Tianshui is wide, which is conducive for us to move around, but it is not conducive for the Zhengxi infantry to form formations, so If we fight in the mountains and ravines to the east, our infantry advantage will be better utilized..."


    Liang Xing followed the topic and said: "If that''s the case, it is indeed possible. To the east of Shanggui, there are Longshan Mountains, ravines, and woodlands. Let''s not talk about whether there is an ambush in Zhengxi. Even if there is an ambush, our scouts will It may not be possible to detect them all…”


    Zhang Heng said: "If Zhengxi attacks Tianshui, he will be in the light and we will be in the dark. We can naturally attack and outflank Zhengxi, making it impossible for Zhengxi to take care of both ends. But now that Zhengxi retreats, if we pursue him, we will become We are in the open, tsk tsk..."


    Candidate said: "If you conquer the west and are good at fighting, this move must have deep meaning. If you don''t know what''s going on, it''s better not to act rashly."


    "That''s right, if the expedition to the west doesn''t come, I can''t wait. At worst, if we give up, we won''t have any losses..." Zhang Heng originally didn''t have many troops, and his relationship with Han Sui was average, so naturally he didn''t have any certainty. If you want to avenge Han Sui, it would be best if you don''t fight him.


    Cheng Gongying sat aside and saw that everyone was talking casually and only talked verbally, and even said that the two sides would stop fighting. He couldn''t help being a little anxious. He stood up, with tears in his eyes, and said with a sad voice. : "Everyone! Everyone! Today Zhengxi killed General Han. If we can''t take revenge, how can we face the elders in our hometown? How can we face the heroes of the world? If we can''t work together, if we kill General Han today, how can we kill him tomorrow? No other generals? By then, there will be no one left in Xiliang!"


    After Cheng Gongying finished speaking, the tent became a little dull.


    It turned out that the Xiliang tribes were summoned by Han Sui. They originally wanted to go further and obtain greater benefits, but they did not expect that before the money and items were obtained, Han Sui, the previous convener, had already been defeated. People were not seen alive or dead. corpse, then the previous plan to obtain the wealth in Guanzhong will naturally disappear.


    Without the motivation of money, just rely on the word "revenge" to send troops to fight against Zhengxi?


    Although there are many such things in the history of Xiliang, for example, during the period of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, the Qiang people rebelled, mostly because Han officials killed some Qiang people or local right-wingers because of some things.


    ?However, there are some things where there is no talk of revenge at all...


    For example, the deaths of Beigong Boyu and Bian Zhang.


    Do you really care about revenge?


    So, in fact, revenge or not, it is just a cover. Use it when you need it, and throw it aside when you don''t need it.


    The most important thing is that neither Han Sui nor Ma Chao can defeat Fei Qian, the general who conquered the west. How can we win if we rush forward recklessly?


    Although the Xiliang generals each had their own ideas, they basically reached an agreement on this point. Seeing Cheng Gongying''s sad words, Duan Xuan coughed and said with emotion: "Of course General Han must be avenged! However, Zhengxi There are many tricks, but we have to be on guard. According to your wishes, we should send some more scouts to investigate carefully to prevent us from falling into Zhengxi''s treacherous plan. "


    Cheng Yin quickly glanced at Cheng Gongying, then stroked his beard and nodded and said: "General Duan is right. General Cheng Gong should not be impatient. We will naturally assist General Cheng Gong in revenge for General Han. However, When an army is marching, it still needs a commander to coordinate it from the center to the left and right. Otherwise, if the general''s orders are not followed and the military orders are not followed, wouldn''t it be a major event?"


    The candidate said: "Brother Cheng''s words are reasonable. If you choose a virtuous person and do not avoid relatives, just elect Brother Cheng as the leader of the Xiliang Alliance!"


    Cheng Yin smiled and before waving his hand, Yang Qiu frowned and said: "General Han''s life and death are unknown, and the enemy is on his side. He doesn''t think about how to fight against the enemy, but he chooses to push the leader of Xiliang? It''s putting the cart before the horse, isn''t it?"


    Cheng Yin immediately lost his face.


    Duan Yan glanced at Cheng Yin and said slowly: "Brother Yang is right. If General Han is still alive, it would be disrespectful for us to elect the leader of the alliance. If General Han really breaks his sword on the battlefield, his body will not be cold at the moment. Isn’t it a bit too much to covet the position of alliance leader so eagerly?”


    Li Kanteng suddenly stood up and said: "Why don''t you take the appearance but not the appearance? General Duan, if you have something to say, just say it directly, don''t beat around the bush and be weird!"


    Duan Xuan narrowed his eyes with a dead smile and said: "Why, General Li is so majestic, but he still has a prejudice against a certain person? When General Han was here before, a certain person also had something to say. Now that General Han is gone, a certain person You can’t even say a word?”


    Liang Xing sneered at the side and said: "You haven''t even become the leader of the alliance. You are so majestic and can''t say a word. If you really become the leader of the alliance, will there be a way for us to survive?"


    ??Li Kan did not dare to get angry with the powerful Duan Xuan, but he was not afraid of Liang Xing, who was almost the same. He immediately pointed angrily at Liang Xing and shouted: "You have the guts to say it again?!"


    Liang Xing also stood up, frowning angrily, holding the handle of the sword at his waist: "The generals sitting here didn''t say anything, why are you jumping out and gesticulating? If you want to find trouble, grandpa will accompany you!"


    Seeing that the situation was not right, the people on the side quickly hugged Li Liang and separated them...


    Cheng Gongying stood there, seeing that a good pre-war meeting turned into a farce, and he was filled with anger. He wanted to borrow the power of these Xiliang generals, so he couldn''t scold or hit him, he could only Holding it in forcefully. Maybe it was because the torches were burning in the big tent and the oxygen was thin, or maybe because his blood pressure was too high for a while and he couldn''t control it. Cheng Gongying felt that his eyesight went black for a while, and he couldn''t stand steadily, so he fell back...


    Street pavilion.


    Although the matter was urgent, we could not mess up the order just because the matter was urgent. Therefore, the army still marched at a normal speed and did not rush to march.


    Jia Xu led the vanguard into Fanxudao, while Fei Qian led the cavalry center and made some repairs at the west entrance of Fanxudao, waiting for feedback from the front.


    At the west entrance of Fanxu Road, there is a famous place. Strictly speaking, it is not famous now. It was a place that became famous only because of Brother Zhu’s Northern Expedition, Street Pavilion.


    ?The street pavilion is located at the west entrance of Fanxu Road. There used to be an ancient city, but it has been abandoned for a long time, and the city wall has been damaged and cannot be used.


    Now that he''s here, Fei Qian also went around this abandoned ancient city. He looked at the broken eaves and broken walls that remained in the small town, and found that this ancient city was not actually a ruined city that was destroyed during the war, as he originally thought. Damaged ones should be those that had to be voluntarily abandoned due to the cutoff of the water source.


    Because the earthquake in the early Han Dynasty not only broke the Chencang Road, but also changed the flow direction of the Western Han Dynasty water, and even changed some underground water veins, causing the Qingshui River that was supposed to originate from the north of Jieting to move to the south. The wells in the ancient city naturally dried up, and one had to go to the Qingshui River more than ten miles away to get water. For the people in the early Han Dynasty, this was undoubtedly a natural disaster that could not survive, and the only choice was to abandon the street pavilions. Here, find another place to make a living.


    It is precisely because of this that Fanxu Road Crossing is not a suitable place to set up a camp. Li Ru''s camp was not set up at a street pavilion that was short of water, but at the source of Qingshui River, ten miles south of the ancient city of Jieting. , for the convenience of getting water.


    But the problem is that Ma Su, who has never been to the street pavilion in his life, doesn’t know that the street pavilion is short of water...


    Maybe even Brother Pig may not know it.


    "Wen You, if we unite 20,000 infantry to meet the 50,000 long-attack cavalry in Guanzhong, how should we set up a stronghold?" Fei Qian stood in the south of the damaged Jieting ancient city, looking at the Fanxu crossing in the distance. After all, he couldn''t hold it back and asked Li Rudao for advice.


    "Twenty thousand infantry? Fifty thousand enemy cavalry?" Li Ru glanced at Fei Qian.


    Fei Qian understood what Li Ru meant, so he added: "Twenty thousand infantry do not seek complete victory, but only want to stop the enemy. We will arrive here in a day or two first. Fifty thousand cavalry came from Guanzhong to attack over a long distance, and all the men and horses were exhausted."


    Is this the only way to compare...


    After Fei Qian''s supplementary explanation, Li Rufang nodded. Although he didn''t fully understand why Fei Qian suddenly asked such a strange question, and he also had precise comparisons of soldiers and battlefield settings, he still thought about it and smiled hoarsely. Laughing, he said: "If someone leads the infantry purely to block the enemy, so that they can easily enter the Fanxu Road and set up a stronghold. Firewood can be piled up in the stronghold to lure the enemy into breaking the stronghold. Let''s burn it first and then talk about it!"


    Fei Qian was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.


    ?Sure enough, different people have different ways of dealing with it. Li Ru’s response can only be said to be very Li Ru. Although the west entrance of Fanxu Road is larger, there are 20,000 people, and they arrived a day or two early. They can set up a decent camp on the road, and the opponent has no choice but to attack.


    However, as soon as he attacked, he fell into Li Ru''s trap. Once the fire was set off, it would first dampen the enemy''s energy, and secondly, the burning camp would naturally block the opponent''s route of further attack. At least until the flames were extinguished, there would be more enemies. After two or three days, and then facing the next camp, the enemy will inevitably shrink back, whether to attack or not to attack...


    ??The only problem is the wood and tools to build the stronghold. Although it is a bit difficult, there is not a shortage of trees on Longshan. In addition, there are 20,000 people. If organized properly, it will not be a big problem to hold them back for ten and a half days.


    ?Of course, if God doesn’t have a good eye and it rains, there will be nothing to say.


    Li Ru stroked his beard, looked at Fan Xudao thoughtfully and said: "The general''s concerns are quite reasonable. If we retreat from Guanzhong, it will be troublesome for the Xiliang generals to establish a stronghold on the road..." Although Hu Qi, a Qiang man, is not good at building strongholds, but there is still a possibility of such an eventuality.


    Hearing this, Fei Qian''s smile couldn''t help but froze for a moment, and then he changed the subject and said, "If that''s the case, Wen You must have a plan, so there''s no need to say anything else... Well, I heard that Han Wenyu is quite famous among the Qiang people. Gao, I don’t know if Wenyou knows the reason?”


    Li Ru smiled hoarsely and said: "Although the Qiang people are not familiar with the scriptures and meanings, they still value friendship. Han Wenyue has a cooking style. If there is a need, he will donate money to help. The Qiang and Hu are grateful for their kindness, so they are named after them. However, using rice to cultivate kindness, stone rice to cultivate hatred, and using wealth to seek kindness and hatred will eventually come to an end."


    ?Fei Qian nodded.


    It is true that the Hu people are like this, just like Liu Yu, who was also famous in Youzhou, and then was killed by Gongsun Zan. The Wuhuan people in Youzhou also opposed Gongsun Zan and joined Yuan Shao''s banner.


    ?Of course, this may be the reason why Yuan Shao’s flag looks much brighter than Gongsun Zan’s.


    "...Northern Hebei, Gongsun is afraid that his time is numbered..." Thinking of Liu Yu Gongsun Zan, Fei Qian naturally thought of Yuan Shao of Jizhou, "At the end of this year, or early next year, Yuan Benchu ??will be able to sit in Jiyou, Zuo Nawu Huan is riding, and Qing Yan''s troops are on the right, either heading south or heading west... Therefore, it is not suitable to be stagnant here in Longxi and should be broken off quickly. "


    Hearing this, Li Ru was silent for a moment, then seriously raised his hands towards Fei Qiangong and said, "The general is far-sighted, and Wen You knows it."


    Now that the stall is a bit big, it is better to close it first, stabilize it, and at least remove some of the hidden dangers inside. Otherwise, if another Zheng family second person or Hu Chuquan second person comes out, it will be a disaster. It’s too much to handle.


    The soldiers at the front rushed out from Fanxu Crossing, waving blue flags to indicate that everything was safe.


    ?Fei Qian nodded towards Li Ru, then waved his hand and ordered the rear cavalry to start entering Fanxu Road.


    "In this way, the affairs of Longxi are entrusted to Wenyou. I set off immediately, and Wenyou stayed behind."


    Anyway, a smart man like Li Ru doesn''t need too many explanations or instructions at all, so Fei Qian didn''t continue to say anything more about Longyou''s specific strategy, declined Li Ru and continued to send him off. Hit the horse, take Huang Xu and other personal guards, go to Fanxudao, follow the large group of people, go to Guanzhong...


    (End of this chapter)