Chapter 2523: Qin and Shu battle against Yangping Pass
The four kingdoms of Qin, Wei, Song, and Wu were all allies, and the four kingdoms even jointly sent troops to capture the entire Japanese kingdom.
When King Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty learned that Jingbei was empty, Chu's 100,000 troops were marching north to attack Qin, and Qin asked Wei and Wu for help, he couldn't help but smile.
After all, the Qin Dynasty, which has always been arrogant and overbearing, would lower its proud head and ask for help from its weak allies. Isn't this happy?
But then I thought about it, why did the Qin Dynasty only ask for help from Wei and Wu, but did not want to ask for help from the Song State, which was also an ally and was closer?
The Wei State only had Yingchuan County bordering Qin State's Nanyang County, while the Yuzhou occupied by the Song State bordered both Nanyang Zhangling County.
Therefore, if Qin asked Song for help, the Song army would definitely provide support much faster than the Wei army.
But the Qin State, which has always been smart, chose to ask Wei for help this time rather than the near and far away. This naturally made the Song State think a lot.
"Sure enough, Da Qin still cares about that matter."
"Lu Yuedu is not from the Song Dynasty. Moreover, the Song Dynasty has expressed its apology. What else does the Qin Dynasty want?"
"Great Qin also wants me, Great Song, to hand over Master Shen."
"If even the imperial master is handed over, then what dignity will I have for the Song Dynasty? If the Qin Dynasty wants to show face to me, the Song Dynasty, shouldn't we give it up?"
Because of Lu Yue's incident, the diplomatic relations between Qin and Song Dynasty cracked.
Qin Emperor Ying Hao sent Zhang Yi as an envoy to Shouchun to question the Song monarchs and ministers, why they ignored the friendship of allies and sent Lu Yue and Shen Gongbao into Guanzhong to make Da Qin an enemy?
In this regard, Zhao Kuangyin's answer was, "This is the personal choice of the two people and has little to do with the Song Dynasty."
Then Zhang Yi proposed to let Song State hand over Shen Gongbao to Da Qin.
Naturally, Zhao Kuangyin would not hand over anyone. After all, Shen Gongbao and Zhao Gongming were close friends. What would Zhao Gongming think if he handed over Shen Gongbao?
What's more, Shen Gongbao not only has outstanding abilities, but also has friends all over the world.
Zhao Kuangyin also wanted Shen Gongbao to help him win over the outer disciples of the Shangqing sect or some evil masters in the world to serve the Song State. How could he be handed over to the Qin State?
The Qin Dynasty prides itself on being orthodox and adheres to the right path, and cannot accept those evil heretics. The Song State of Zhao Kuangyin does not pick people.
Regardless of whether he is evil or not, as long as he can serve him, Zhao Kuangyin can still accept it even if he doesn't have much loyalty at all.
Zhao Kuangyin refused to surrender and tried to protect Shen Gongbao, which brought the diplomatic relations between Qin and Song Dynasties to a freezing point. That is to say, the war in the west has not yet ended, and when he gets ready, he will definitely attack the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, this time the Qin State sought help from the distant State and asked Wei and Wu for help, but it did not ask for help from the Song State. Many people in the Song State believed that it was because of the Lu Yue Incident.
But what about the reality? Guan Zhong chose to ask Wei and Wu for help because he was sure that Wei and Wu would send troops, but Song would most likely refuse.
The Song State was not like the Wei State, which was choked by the Qin State in all aspects.
When Qin asked Song for someone, Zhao Kuangyin dared to refuse, but if Shen Gongbao was in Wei and Qin went to Wei to ask for someone, Cao Cao would definitely not dare to refuse, because Wei did not have the confidence to fall out with Qin.
The Song State had the confidence to dare to reject the Qin State, so naturally it also dared not to send troops to aid Qin. After all, there was nothing that the Great Qin could do to the Song State.
But if both Wei and Song countries send troops to help Qin, and only Song does not send troops, then Song will be worried about gains and losses again, worried that Qin is deliberately squeezing out Song, and even more worried about the formation of Song between Qin, Wei, and Wu.
Don't know about the conspiracy.
If the three kingdoms of Qin, Wei, and Wu formed a conspiracy to carve up the Song Kingdom after the Chu army was defeated, the Song Kingdom would be in danger.
Of course, this is only the worst-case scenario. A better option would be to suppress Song State commercially, which would also greatly reduce the income of Song State's caravans.
The Song State, which was used to reaping benefits from following the Qin Dynasty and developing its national power rapidly, obviously did not want to live a fussy life like before.
But everything they have now, not only all of it is because of the Great Qin, but at least half of it is because of the Great Qin. It is precisely because of this that they worry about gains and losses.
"Prime Minister, both Wei and Wu have sent troops to help Qin. Should we, the Song Dynasty, also send troops?" Zhao Kuangyin asked.
After Zhao Pu, the Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty, pondered for a long time, he said: "Send as many factions as you want. There is no need to send too many factions, so that Qin State cannot use this as an excuse to cause trouble for the Song Dynasty."
"Um."
Zhao Kuangyin nodded and immediately sent an envoy to Xiangyang to ask the governor Zhang Jiuling if he needed support.
Zhang Jiuling was shocked when he learned of the Song envoy's intention. The Song Dynasty must have seen more money on territory and commerce than he did, but it was the first time that he took the initiative to send soldiers and horses to his door.
Zhang Jiuling instinctively suspected Song's intentions, and even suspected that Song had secretly formed an alliance with Chu and was preparing to cooperate with Chu in a sneak attack on the Qin army's rear under the pretext of support.
However, whether it was the Wei army or the Song army, after entering Jingzhou, the food and grass were supplied by the Qin army. In other words, their lifeline was already in the hands of the Qin army.
If the Qin army really dared to stab the Qin army in the back, the Qin army would only need to cut off its food and grass. In a few days, the Song army would collapse without fighting due to lack of food and grass.
The probability of a successful rebellion is too low and the cost is too high, so the Song army should be unlikely to betray.
Zhang Jiuling had difficulty making a decision and could only report it to Xue Rengui.
Xue Rengui was also a little confused about this, and couldn't understand why Song wanted to take the initiative to send troops to help Qin, but Guan Zhong did analyze the reason.
Guan Zhong was almost certain that if he asked the Song State directly for help, he would most likely be rejected directly by Zhao Kuangyin, but he never expected that bypassing the Song State and directly asking for help from Wei and Wu, Song would instead take the initiative to come to help.
It's really a chance meeting.
For free thugs like Song Guo, Guan Zhong naturally refused to accept anyone who came, so he replied to Zhang Jiuling and asked him to allow the Song army to enter, but he could not enter Xiangyang and could only go to Zhangling.
Guan Zhongyin had a plan to deal with the Chu army that entered Xiangyang. If Song came over at this time, it would be easy to alert the enemy. If Deng Yu noticed it, the loss would outweigh the gain.
After Zhao Kuangyin received the reply from the Qin army, he felt relieved. As long as he was not squeezed out of the Song Dynasty, he then ordered Yuan Chonghuan as the chief general and Zhao Defang as the deputy general to lead 10,000 Runan troops to Zhangling County to assist in the battle.
"Report... report to the king that General Zhao She is back."
"who?"
After hearing the report, Zhao Kuangyin was stunned for a moment, unable to react, and asked: "Who is back?"
"Zhao She, it's General Zhao She. He escaped alive."
"Quickly, ask Zhao She to come and see this king." Zhao Kuangyin said excitedly.
Zhao She and Zhao Kuangyin were cousins. They were captured alive by Li Shimin when they were fighting against Dong. They were imprisoned for several years and had to surrender to the Tang Dynasty.
After Zhao She surrendered, he was reused by Li Shimin and made many contributions to Li Tang.
Later, the Qin Dynasty occupied Guanzhong, Li Shimin died in the battle, and although Zhao She escaped from Chang'an, he also lost his trace.
Zhao Kuangyin thought that Zhao She was caught up and killed by Da Qin's killers on the way to escape, but he did not expect that Zhao She escaped alive.
When Zhao She saw Zhao Kuangyin, her eyes suddenly turned red. She stepped forward and subconsciously prepared to hug him, but then realized that his status was different. Zhao Kuangyin was now the king, and he could no longer be like before, so he held his fists in tears and saluted:
"Brother, Zhao She is back."
Zhao Kuangyin grabbed Zhao She's arms, looked Zhao She up and down, and said happily: "It's good to come back, it's good to come back."
After some questioning, Zhao Kuangyin learned about Zhao She's experience during this period.
After the fall of Chang'an, Zhao She, Li Yuanba, Yu Wentai, Ji Fa, Gao Siji, Gao Xingzhou, Yin Kaishan, Hou Junji, etc. would escape from Chang'an one after another and prepare to seek opportunities to escape from Guanzhong.
Unexpectedly, after the Qin Dynasty occupied Chang'an, it sealed off the entire Guanzhong as quickly as possible. Several key exits were guarded by great masters. Zhao She and others could not get through at all, so they had no choice but to find a place to hide and recuperate.
The Daqin pursuit team searched Zhao She and others very closely, and they seemed to want to search the entire Guanzhong.
Just when everyone was about to despair, people from the Taoist Taiqing sect contacted them and told them that Taiqing Taoists were coming down from the mountain and were preparing to go to Huashan in person to deal with Qin Emperor Ying Hao. At that time, all the great masters in Guanzhong would definitely go to Huashan.
escort, and they can take this opportunity to escape from Guanzhong.
With the support of Taiqing sect masters, Zhao She and others escaped from Guanzhong without any danger, and also captured Bu Jingyun, one of the Seven Swordsmen.
"What are you doing with Bu Jingyun?" Zhao Kuangyin asked in confusion.
"The Taoists told Li Yuanba that Bu Jingyun's left arm was not his own, but was replaced after it was broken. Li Yuanba also broke his left arm, so he wanted to replace Bu Jingyun's left arm with himself to get rid of
The disabled body regains its strength." Zhao She said.
Zhao Kuangyin was stunned when he heard this. He never expected that there would be such an outrageous change of hands.
Zhao She continued: "As soon as we fled into Wudu County, the Shu State betrayed its alliance with the Tang State. Then the Qin State launched an attack on the three counties of Longxi, and the Sui State also sent troops to attack the three counties of the Qiang District.
.
Since most of the people were still injured, they were unable to participate in the Longxi Battle. Only Ji Fa, who was slightly injured, returned to Longxi County.
By the time my injuries were almost healed, the three counties of Longxi had been captured by the Qin army, and Li Tang had surrendered to the Shu Han. After some discussion, we decided to go our separate ways.
Li Yuanba was taken away by an expert from the Taiqing sect.
Yin Kaishan and Xiao Sheng returned to Hanzhong and took refuge with Li Siyuan and Li Keyong respectively.
Yuwentai and Ji Fa had a good personal relationship, and Gao Xingzhou was saved by Ji Fa, so they both went to Qiang land to join Ji Chang.
As for my younger brother, he neither wanted to join Liu Yu nor serve Li Siyuan and Li Keyong, so he took General Gao Siji with him back to the Song Dynasty to join you, my brother."
Gao Sijihui chose to join the Song Dynasty, not only because of Zhao She, but also because Gao Huaide, who was related to him by blood, currently held an important position in the Song army.
When he heard that Zhao She had not come back alone and had kidnapped Gao Siji, Zhao Kuangyin's eyes suddenly lit up, and he was even more ecstatic. After all, he had heard of Gao Siji's reputation as a brave man.
"Brother She, I didn't expect that you would give me such a great gift just after you came back." Zhao Kuangyin laughed.
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On the other side, Ji Changji thundered and shocked his father and son. After leading his army to retreat into the Qiang land, he immediately incorporated the Tang army from the Qiang land and recruited many Qiang people into the army. The number of troops under his command skyrocketed to 30,000, but then
What came was the attack of Yang Su's 60,000 Sui troops.
Facing the 60,000 Sui army with high morale and the 30,000 Tang army with low morale, it is obviously very difficult to win.
There are four reasons why Ji Chang can win this battle:
1. The people of Qiang area support Li Tang even more.
2. The army left by Li and Tang in the Qiang region was mainly cavalry, and the number of cavalry in the Zhou army was not small.
3. Coupled with the timely arrival and help of Yu Wentai and Gao Xingzhou, the generals of Zhou army are even better.
4. Yang Su committed a taboo among military strategists. He underestimated his Ji Chang, thinking that because he was a scholar and was beaten so badly by Xuanyuan, his ability to lead troops should be extremely mediocre.
It was precisely because of these four points that Ji Chang was given the opportunity to turn defeat into victory.
The battle in the Qiang land ended with Ji Chang narrowly defeating Yang Su, killing 10,000 Sui troops and losing 9,000 himself.
After the war, Ji Chang, taking advantage of his great victory, negotiated with the Sui State and expressed his willingness to surrender to the Sui State.
Seeing that Ji Chang's army was so capable of fighting, Yang Guang might lose both sides if he forcibly annexed the other side. In order to occupy the Qiang land at a small price, Yang Guang accepted Ji Chang's surrender and appointed Ji Chang as the governor of Yizhou County.
The Sui Kingdom had three counties in the Western Regions, namely: Tianshan County (Urumqi), Yizhou County (Hami), and Gaochang County (Turpan County);
Yang Guang appointed Ji Chang as the governor of Yizhou County, not because he really trusted Ji Chang, but because he wanted to transfer his troops away from the Qiang land and completely control the seven counties of the Qiang land.
In addition, the Western Regions were also the foundation of the Sui Kingdom. After Ji Chang arrived in the Western Regions, it was not up to him, Yang Guang, to decide how to exploit Ji Chang.
At the same time, Yang Guang can also take this opportunity to see if Ji Chang is sincerely loyal. After all, agreeing to the right person may not be sincere, but rejecting it must be ambitious.
Therefore, Yang Guang's move simply killed three birds with one stone.
But what Yang Guang didn't know was that Ji Chang was eager to leave the Qiang land and enter the Western Regions, so he cooperated in this way and voluntarily gave up the three counties of the Qiang land, which were relatively richer.
In this way, Yang Guang obtained the three counties of Qiang as he wished, and Ji Chang also entered the Western Region as he wished. Both parties were very happy.
After Yang Guangquan took control of seven counties in the Qiang region, he saw that Qin and Shu were fighting at Yangping Pass. Then Chu, Wei and Wu all joined in, and his thoughts began to get active, and he wanted to find an opportunity to completely expel the Qin army from Liangzhou.
Therefore, Yang Guang secretly contacted Liu Yu of Shu and mobilized troops to the front line. However, he did not go to war with the Qin army, but only tested the strength of the Qin army in Liangzhou.
This test really made Yang Guang test something. Although Li Jing lost 30,000 troops to Yangping Pass, he still had sufficient troops in Liangzhou, and the commander was still Li Jing, who had never been defeated.
In this regard, Yang Guang was also very helpless and could only hope that the Qin army would be defeated at Yangping Pass and then transfer Liangzhou's army to the front line of Hanzhong, so that the Sui State could make a profit.