The envoy left Liangzhou that day. After leaving the city, he was introduced by Yan Ding and came to a small fort named Guojiawu located at the junction of Wuwei and Wuxing counties - Wuxing County and Zhanggui Town in Liangzhou.
It was built later to resettle the Qin and Yong refugees, and is located in the northwest of Guzang.
The castle owner's name is Yin Han, and he is the son-in-law of the previous dock owner.
His wife, Guo Fugui, looks really rich. Her arms can run horses, her face is full of flesh, and she is stronger than ordinary men.
He can wear armor, ride horses, shoot arrows, and is extremely powerful.
Therefore, after discussing with the servants sent by Yan Ding, Yin Han decided to let Guo Fugui guard his home and pick a hundred horses to escort the envoy to Qinzhou.
They took the southern route, that is, going south through the tunnel in Yanzhi Mountain to Jincheng County.
To the southwest of this county is Jinxing County, which was established after Zhanggui Town Liangzhou. It is roughly located in the Minhe area of ​​today's Qinghai Province - basically all are Qiang and Xianbei. It is actually a Jimi County.
From Jincheng County, you can go south to Longxi County.
As a messenger, Xun Xu was observing all the way.
Wuwei was okay, but after entering Jincheng (today's Yuzhong), the number of Qiang suddenly increased, and there were even many Jie people and Xidingling tribesmen who came all the way from the west and wanted to enter the Central Plains.
As a local wealthy family, the influence of the You family is still quite strong. The local saying goes: "With You, there are countless cattle and sheep. The red gate opens to the south and the brothel looks to the north."
However, because they did not listen to Zhang Gui's orders in the early years and colluded with Sima, the two families were hit hard by Zhang Gui. It was not until Zhang Gui sent troops to Qinzhou and surrendered Longxi Prefect Han Zhi that Jincheng County was under control
.
The means of control are also very simple. Use military deterrence, then support the Jincheng tribe, and compete with Jin wealthy families such as You.
Nowadays, the You clan is suppressed politically, and the clan suffered heavy losses in the war with the Huns in Guanzhong. The clan's power has completely risen, and they have received continuous support from the Shaofu (Liangzhou Governor's Office). Even the prefect is theirs.
"Fu" corresponds to "Tai Fu", which is the Duke's Mansion of Xiping County.
When Xun Xu heard about this, the "killer instinct" of the nobles was activated, and he keenly sensed the opportunity.
If the imperial court bypasses Zhang Jun and directly grants the You clan the position of governor, can the clan members be allowed to fight on their own?
Xun Xu felt that something was wrong.
You ask him to mobilize the army and formulate a strategy to conquer Liangzhou, but he doesn't understand.
But if you ask him to stir up trouble and sow discord, he understands.
Unfortunately, this trip was very tight and there was no time to stay in Jincheng, but Xun Xu wrote it down.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, a group of more than 100 people encountered Sangcheng Town Rangers after entering Longxi.
After some negotiation, we entered the town in the evening.
****
Sangcheng Town is located on the west bank of Taoshui River and west of Didao County (now Lintao).
The so-called town is nothing more than a wooden fortress, and it didn't even have time to cover it with soil. It can be seen that it was built in a very hasty manner.
The number of soldiers in the town was 5,000, but there were actually 4,000.
Corresponding to the 4,000 Xiongnu households in Sangcheng Town, there is almost one child per household.
However, for this kind of military and town system where soldiers and civilians are integrated, it does not make much sense to distinguish between soldiers and civilians.
When there is no war, everyone has to be busy with farm work, and the military town cannot afford many professional soldiers who are off the job.
When there is a war, strong men go to battle, strong women, old men, and young men defend the city.
To be honest, it is somewhat similar to the later Ming Dynasty guards, but there are differences.
Because the town general has relatively great power and can appoint lower-level officials, the court will agree through the process and generally will not veto it.
Moreover, military towns are centered around powerful clans or tribal chiefs.
The heads of wealthy clans and tribal chiefs use blood-related descendants of the family as officers to form a core force, known as the "disciple soldiers." They then use the descendants of the clan to control more townsfolk from outside the clan to guard the frontiers for the imperial court.
Some of the more outrageous frontier wealthy families gave birth to sons, and then all of them practiced martial arts and became proficient in bow and horse.
Historically, during the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties period, there were no fewer than three thousand children of the Zhe family clan in Fugu. Most of them were good at riding horses and archery, and received military training from an early age.
This kind of clan soldiers have strong cohesiveness and high organization. They can fight tough and hard battles, and are willing to fight to the death for their family's property (leaving home to fight will significantly reduce their combat effectiveness). They are a very good low-cost, high-combat effectiveness border defense force.
but-
——
Easy to rebel!
Although Shao Thief is not human most of the time, he knows the situation of all the people under his account very well.
It is necessary to win over Jin Kang, the general of Sangcheng Town.
These four thousand Xiongnu families are almost all surrounded by Qiang and Jie people. They have different customs and cultures, which is very eye-catching.
Similar and different.
So he returned the old Jiexiu house of the Jin family, and gave the three brothers separate houses in Luoyang, as well as many properties.
In the future, younger generations of the Jin family will also be appointed as officials.
After a series of tricks, Jin Kang was still working hard in Sangcheng.
Rangers were out in all directions, patrolling day and night, and also beat up several surrounding tribes, asking them to pay tribute regularly to solve part of the military town's food and salary.
If they encounter a stubborn tribe, they will even send troops to attack and kill them to establish their authority.
When Xun Xu came to Sang Town, he saw more than a thousand households in a mess not far from the town.
When I inquired about it, I found that these disheveled people were actually captured Qiang people.
Jin Kang asked them to reclaim the flat land along the river near the town and plant millet and wheat.
"He is a man who knows how to run a business." Xun Xu turned around and commented like an important minister in the Taiwan government: "However, the soldiers are all different heights, fat and thin, and the formation is not good-looking. Their clothes and armor are not bright enough, and their faces are too fierce and look alike.
Bandit.
The town is too simple to hide many people. When the enemy army attacks, some cattle, sheep, horses, old and weak women and children will have to be moved."
"I won't talk about the soldiers. There are not even tiger cubs in the general's house. It is convenient to get up at night and he still has to go out."
"The bowl of meat I had at night almost vomited out. It was so fishy and there was no seasoning at all."
"The mountain wind is biting and the white snow is so charming."
"I don't know how the king deceived people after living such a hard life."
The Yin Han who escorted them looked at Xun Xu in surprise. Aren't all frontier fortresses like this?
If you want to live a good life, you must at least have a family fortune like the You clan in Jincheng before you can build a high-rise building and open a wealthy family. But in those days, the You clan could not compare to the Guanzhong gentry, let alone the extravagant Guandong gentry.
"Is Chief Xun here to deliver a letter or to inspect?" Jin Kang's voice sounded from a distance.
Xun Xu smiled and said no more.
Jin Kang glanced at Yin Han and others.
Yin Han voluntarily resigned and went to camp far away with his guards.
Jin Kang looked at Xun Xu again and asked, "How is Wuwei?"
When the serious matter came up, Xun Xu also became serious and said, "I'm afraid we still have to fight."
Jin Kang was a little silent.
He only has 4,000 Xiongnu families at hand. He previously incorporated more than 2,000 Shiwu remnant families, and recently captured more than a thousand Qiang families, but he has not had time to integrate them. Not only will they not be useful in a short period of time, but they will also have to send people
Monitor them.
If we really want to attack Liangzhou, Longxi, Anding, Tianshui, Nan'an, Lueyang and other counties, we will form the Southern Route Army and attack the three counties of Jincheng, Jinxing and Xiping south of Yanzhi Mountain together.
Sang Town will definitely mobilize in large numbers.
"What's wrong with Yang Duryodhana?" Xun Xu asked.
"The winter is still disturbing Yinping. Many tribes have rebelled, and Yinping may not be preserved." Jin Kang said and Xun Xu frowned.
He is not ignorant at all. In places like Yinping and Wudu, the terrain is complex and they are full of Qiang people. You can win, but you cannot station troops for a long time. And as soon as you withdraw your troops, they will come back.
It is unrealistic to say that all the local people will be massacred. If instead of suppressing and pacifying all the local people, you go to kill people,
The intensity of the battle will be different. You may be ambushed by others using the terrain and suffer a big defeat, instead of being as interesting as when you use both suppression and appeasement, and you will not fight to the death.
Furthermore, they may have run away before you came over. You went out in a big way and with great momentum. In the end, you didn't catch a single hair and wasted countless money and food.
This is the most troublesome part.
In the end, I'm afraid I will have to appease him, even if I don't appease Yang Nandi, I will have to appease his subordinates.
If other tribes are forced to suppress the rebellion, regardless of their wishes, the counter-rebellion army may turn into rebels. This is not impossible.
To the west of Chang'an, the barbarians have become severely transformed. This is the virtue.
"General Jin, do you think Liangzhou should be attacked?" Xun Xu frowned.
"In my opinion, we should appease him," Jin Kang said.
"Why do you say that?"
"Zhang's troops are actually the troops of the imperial court. Who benefits if they are all used up?" Jin Kang said: "Although Zhang Jun has eleven counties under his rule, how far can his decrees travel? Xianbei, Qiang, Jie Zhong,
The Huns are full of pits and valleys. If Zhang's troops are defeated, the imperial court will have to send troops.
.The recruitment I mentioned was not to recruit the Zhang family, but to recruit other Liangzhou generals and chiefs. After that, everything will be the same as before. The imperial court can't reach this far, and Liangzhou will be like calling Tuoba and Tuge a vassal.
, just maintain a general level of obedience and don’t take everything too seriously.”
Xun Xu was amused by his words and said, "Do you dare to say this in front of King Liang?"
Jin Kang said: "I am also thinking about the imperial court. How can it be so easy to eat it in one go? I have to work hard on an expedition.
It’s not that simple. I think your Majesty is quite flexible. If you don’t farm in the south of the Yangtze River, won’t you be deceived?”
Xun Xu's face suddenly turned ugly.
Jin Kang laughed.
"That's all, I was just joking." Jin Kang's smile faded and he said, "Bring the letter, I'll send someone to Chang'an."
"How to send it?"
"My family will go to Luoyang tomorrow, and this letter can go with them."
"No." Xun Xu said, "This matter is urgent. We need to send strong and skilled equestrians, one person and five horses, to Luoyang quickly."
"So urgent?" Jin Kang was puzzled: "Isn't the king waiting to give in? How can he want to fight?"
"Not necessarily." Xun Xu didn't want to explain more, and just said: "This is the order of Honglu Cheng Yugong."
When Jin Kang heard Yu Mi's name, he stopped refusing and said, "Okay, I will select the athletes and set off overnight."
Xun Xu nodded, asked someone to fetch the wooden box containing the letter, and handed it to Jin Kang.
Jin Kang ordered more than ten horses on the spot, with five horses per person, took the wooden box, and hurriedly disappeared into the night, heading straight to Chang'an.
When the relay of letters arrived in Luoyang, it was already the second half of the first month.
At this time, the emperor of Dapu Dynasty had changed.
Chapter completed!