() In the middle of November of the third year of Han Zhongping, the Han and Qiang armies fought in Beidi County. On that day, a fire suddenly fell from the sky, burning the Qiang's grain, grass and baggage, and injuring many people. At that time, Taizu accompanied Dong Zhuo.

On the other side, when he saw something happened, he suggested: "Heaven is helping me as a great man, so I should send out troops." Dong Zhuo obeyed his request and sent his troops to attack the west.

At that time, the Qiang army had lost all courage and was completely helpless. The 70,000-strong army faced the 30,000-strong Han army, but there was no one left to fight. Until daybreak, tens of thousands of people died, and countless surrendered. After this battle, the Qiang army was in chaos.

A few years ago, Dong Zhuo was awarded a title for his merits, but Taizu's merits were not presented to the court, which is really suspicious.

More than ten years later, a minister asked Taizu about this old incident. Taizu Dan smiled and said: "Dong Zhuo is a traitor to the country. I don't want to have many connections with him, so I give up this merit." This statement can be said.

Do you believe it? I’m afraid it will be difficult for future generations to guess Taizu’s intentions.

——"Book of Jin. The Chronicles of Taizu"

Ma Yue was walking in the original camp of the Qiang army. The ground here still had burn marks from the fire that fell from the sky two days ago and the condensation of blood from the killed soldiers on both sides. In the distance, several soldiers were carrying more than a dozen corpses.

The corpses were pushed into the deep pit, and then tools were used to bury the pit with hundreds of enemy and friendly corpses buried underneath.

Ma saw such scenes more and more in the past two days, which also made his original discomfort slowly dissipate. That night, when he saw the Han army successfully entering the Qiang camp, he

He was still very excited, but when he came to the battlefield after dawn, Ma Yue felt the cruelty after the killing.

Countless corpses were piled up together. Although there was no smell due to the weather, it still made Ma Yue feel uncomfortable. This is the value of life in the face of war. It is just a corpse.

They are just unconscious bodies, and soon they will return to dust and dust.

However, Ma Yue did not regret that he had persuaded Dong Zhuo to send troops before, because he knew that wars always involve life and death, and it is better to kill the enemy than to be killed by the enemy. Now that the Qiang people have been completely defeated, Xiliang will be in chaos for some time to come.

It will be quickly pacified, and it can also show vigilance to those foreigners who still dare to look at it from the side. Therefore, the value of this battle is not only to kill the enemy, but also to attack the heart.

Just as Ma Yue lowered his head to consider the possible actions of the foreign tribes in Xiliang and surrounding areas, Wang Feng beside him suddenly pulled his sleeve: "Young master, someone is here again. This time, it seems that it is a man who comes.

Army general."

Ma Yue heard the sound and looked towards the camp gate, and saw Bai Laiqi appearing there. One of them was wearing full armor and looked very impressive. Regarding the arrival of this man, Ma Yue just smiled casually: "No matter who is coming.

Even if Zhang Wen comes in person, he still can't get Dong Zhuo to agree to continue sending troops to pursue him."

It turned out that just after the battle two days ago, Dong Zhuo followed Ma Yue's advice and did not continue to pursue the defeated Qiang army. Although the reason he gave to the outside world was that we should not pursue the enemy when we are poor, he was worried that if he did so, he would

Forced

The Qiang army jumped over the wall in a hurry, causing damage to the army. But Ma Yue knew very well Dong Zhuo's true thoughts. He did not continue to kill the Qiang army because he felt that it would be more beneficial to him to keep the Qiang rebel army in Xiliang.

Raising bandits with self-respect is Ma Yue's final explanation for Dong Zhuo's behavior. Because Dong Zhuo still needs to continue to expand his power in Xiliang, he must have a reason for the court to keep him here. And there are still Qiang.

The theory that the remnants of the army are causing harm to the local area is the most high-sounding one.

However, Zhang Wen didn't think so. He had already missed an opportunity to make a great contribution, and naturally he could not miss another opportunity to pursue the victory. However, when it came to being familiar with the situation in Xiliang, he was naturally inferior to Dong Zhuo.

Just in case, and because he had suffered enough from being unfamiliar with geography, he ordered Dong Zhuo to cooperate with him in continuing to march westward to quell the chaos.

In this regard, Dong Zhuo's attitude was very cold. Although he had received many orders to march westward, he always refused Zhang Wen on the grounds that the soldiers were exhausted after new battles and needed to rest. On several occasions,

After sending people to deliver orders but Dong Zhuo refused, this time Zhang Wen finally couldn't help but send a general who should be of equal status to him to give an ultimatum.

When he saw this general walking into Dong Zhuo's main tent with a dark face, Ma Yue showed a look of sympathy on his face: "Dong Zhuo is now fearless. He has made a decision."

For such a great achievement, the court will definitely reward him, and He Jin will trust him more. With this confidence, how can he be ordered to do anything again? After this victory, the situation in Xiliang is completely different now.

Can’t Zhang Wen feel it?"

Sure enough, at this time in the main tent of the Chinese army, Dong Zhuo faced this general who was on an equal footing with him. He did not avoid the table and get up as before, but continued to sit there, sipping the wine in his hand,

Then he said very casually: "It turns out that General Zhou has arrived, but I don't know why he suddenly visited the place?"

The person who came was none other than Zhou Shen, the bandit general whose status in the army was second only to Zhang Wen. He had made little contribution in this battle against the Qiang people, so he was naturally very anxious. This time he looked at the others.

They all hit a wall with Dong Zhuo. He thought that with his status, Dong Zhuo should not dare to be too arrogant, and he might be able to achieve something through this, so he came to be a lobbyist.

Seeing Dong Zhuo's attitude, Zhou Shen felt angry in his heart, but because he had something to do, he suppressed his anger and said in a strong tone: "General, I am here for two things. The first is to congratulate you.

General Dong has been able to accomplish great feats, so I guess the reward from the imperial court will arrive soon?"

"Hey, it's just a small amount of credit. It's nothing. But compared to some people who only know how to delay with the Qiang thieves, I can still claim this credit!" Dong Zhuo took a sip of wine and squinted again.

He glanced at the other party: "I wonder what the second thing is about General Zhou?"

"You...the second thing I want to do when I come to see you is to urge you to send troops quickly. Now that we have finally defeated the Qiang rebel army, we should take advantage of the victory and pursue it. But you are just staying here

Here, not a single soldier has been sent to continue marching westward, which really betrays the trust of the imperial court!"

Dong Zhuo put down his wine glass, shook his head and sighed: "General Zhou, do you know why I, Dong, can achieve such a victory, but you can only be suppressed by the Qiang people all the time?" He smiled and said without waiting for the other party to speak.

He gave the answer: "Just because I have won the hearts of the soldiers, they are willing to sacrifice their lives for me. It is precisely because all the soldiers sacrifice their lives that we can win a great victory so smoothly when facing the Qiang army."

"And the reason why I can win the hearts of the soldiers is because I care about them more than you do. After several battles, the soldiers are exhausted physically and mentally. How can I continue to let them march westward at this time? That's why I will

Let the army stay here and recuperate before taking action based on the situation. I wonder what General Zhou thinks I am right about?"

When Zhou Shen heard Dong Zhuo's words, his nose almost became angry. He actually rejected his own intention and also used it to ridicule everyone including himself. How could he not be angry? But Zhou Shen also knew that now

Dong Zhuo was gaining momentum, and he was in his military camp. A conflict with him would only cause big trouble, so he had to suppress his anger and said: "Do you know this is what Marshal Zhang meant? How many times have you refused to accept the Marshal's military orders?

, but what is your intention? Are you not afraid of being punished for it? The Qiang rebellion in Xiliang has been going on for more than a year, but you have been unwilling to do your best to quell the rebellion. What is your intention? The commander-in-chief will definitely report this matter to the court.

of!"

"Go back and tell Marshal Zhang that the reason why he did this is to better quell this chaos." Dong Zhuo restrained himself when he saw that the other party was almost losing control due to his yin and yang words.

Looking at his previous attitude, he solemnly said: "I have reported my idea to the imperial court. The reason why I did not pursue the victory is to cause differences among the Qiang people and resolve this rebellion without bloodshed."

"What, the reason for not sending troops to pursue us is to quell the chaos? What are you talking about in your sleep? The court cannot believe your rhetoric!" Zhou Shen said with some confusion.

"What is the specific situation? I believe there will be a result soon. You can just wait for the follow-up." Dong Zhuo suddenly shouted in a deep voice: "Send off the guests!" Immediately, several soldiers opened the curtain and entered, saying to Zhou Shen: "

General Zhou, my lord is busy with affairs and really doesn’t have much time to talk to you, so you’d better come back.”

Seeing that he could no longer convince Dong Zhuo, Zhou Shen could only snort bitterly and walk away. As he watched him leave, Dong Zhuo's eyes lost some of the confidence he had just now: "Can what Zhong Ling said come true? What if?

It’s okay if there are disputes among the Qiang people, but if they don’t cause chaos, I’ll be in trouble.”

It turned out that there was an internal debate within Dong Zhuo's army about whether to take advantage of the victory to pursue the Qiang people. In the end, it was Ma Yue's words that moved Dong Zhuo. In addition to mentioning self-respect in raising bandits, he also mentioned

At this point, it would be of great benefit to the Han army not to pursue them.

Because Ma Yue concluded that the Qiang people were not as united as they imagined. Under the threat of external forces, they might still be able to unite with the outside world, but once there were no external enemies, conflicts among the Qiang people would break out.

"Although this rebel army is called Qiang people by us, in fact nearly half of them are our Han people. Either because they were coerced by the Qiang people or because they were dissatisfied with the status quo, they took refuge with the Qiang people. But

After all, they will not be of the same mind as them. When the Qiang people are in power, they will naturally not do anything. But once the Qiang people are defeated and it is difficult to protect themselves, the conflicts between these Han people and them will be completely intensified.

.When the time comes, all we have to do is watch from a distance, and we will be able to see them killing each other, and eventually the Qiang army will fall apart!"

Dong Zhuo could still recall Ma Yue's words clearly, but he still had doubts as to how accurate this matter was: "I hope he is right this time. There will really be some trouble within the Qiang army."

!However, even if the Qiang people can't afford any internal strife, I can't send troops, otherwise it will only give Zhang Wen an advantage. He no longer has the ability to put pressure on me. The situation is no longer the same as before, so why should I, Dong Zhuo,
Chapter completed!