The Wuxi Army shouted again. At this moment, not only the Wuxi Army was moved, but also the Nanzhong barbarians who were kneeling on the ground were deeply touched. Being able to treat the entourage and direct troops equally, and fighting with such a Han commander, what else could you ask for?
Originally, the Sichuan Army's treatment of soldiers had attracted the Nanzhong barbarians. Now that they saw that Liu Zhang did not completely regard the entourage as a tool, they were heartbroken to surrender. These barbarians decided to follow the Sichuan Army.
"Husband, I'm sorry."
Liu Zhang left, and Xiao Furong followed behind and apologized softly. She felt that it was because of the Wuxi Army that the Sichuan Army broke up with the Nanzhong Barbarians, and because of herself, Liu Zhang did not punish the Wuxi Army, which made Xiao Furong feel even more guilty.
Huang Yueying smiled and said: "Madam, you don't have to blame yourself. My lord is not doing this for you. I believe that my madam has been following my lord for a long time, and she also understands that it is not easy to conquer the people of Wuxi. Compared with the South Central Army, who has not yet conquered, who is more important? Haha."
"Okay, Rong'er." Liu Zhang said to Xiao Furong: "This is none of your business and none of the Wuxi Army's business. You go and recruit those Nanzhong barbarians as a reserve force for your white pole soldiers."
"Well, I will definitely recruit you fairly and won't cause any trouble to your husband."
Xiao Furong meant that the Nanzhong Army was now separated from the Wuxi Army, and she would not avenge the Nanzhong Army because of this.
Liu Zhang nodded, watched Xiao Furong leave, and sighed.
"My lord, there is no need to be sentimental, there will be gains and losses," Huang Yueying said.
"So there must be gains for every loss?" Liu Zhang said as he walked towards the tent: "I originally thought that Meng Yao agreed to surrender and the battle in Nanzhong would be over. But I didn't expect that Meng Huo... Now it seems that this war must continue.
But if we continue to fight, we need to establish prestige but not make enemies. We don’t have the map of Nanzhong yet, Yueying, to be honest, I have no confidence at all in this battle."
If there were other people around him, Liu Zhang would not say "not sure". As a coach, he should give confidence to his generals, and only generals can give confidence to the soldiers. But when facing Huang Yueying, Liu Zhang always felt that Huang Yueying gave people a very different feeling.
Warmth, no matter what troubles you have, you can throw them to her.
Even the most troublesome moments, I feel very relaxed.
Huang Yueying smiled and said: "My lord is not sure, and neither is Yueying, but the battlefield is changing rapidly. It contains countless opportunities. We can't strategize, and we can't wait for changes. Let's go back and plan."
Liu Zhang smiled and looked at Huang Yueying's relaxed look, and he seemed to be much more relaxed too.
…………
"You, you, you... rebelled against you, Meng Huo. Who gave you the authority to lead troops privately? Now we have returned with a great defeat. Now it's better. Not only did we lose our troops, but we also got a name of unbelief and injustice. I'm sure
How do you want me to clean up this mess caused by my hatred against the Sichuan Army?"
In the Nanman camp, Meng Yao thundered. Meng Huo, A Hui Nan, Meng You and Zhu Bao stood in the hall without saying a word.
Zhu Bao stepped forward and bowed respectfully to Meng Yao: "Your Majesty, we have a reputation of unbelief and injustice. Our border people in a barbaric land have always had this reputation in Liu Zhang's eyes.
What's more, Liu Zhang is not a good bird. Liu Zhang always kills his enemies unless he has no strength to kill them. Just like the wealthy people in Chengdu back then, when Liu Zhang didn't have the strength, he would just give in to them. When he had the strength, he would kill them all.
, Now Liu Zhang is treating our Nanzhong in the same way, with ulterior motives, please don’t be fooled, Your Majesty."
"How dare you say that?" Meng Yao was furious: "It's the Meng Huo you provoked. None of you wealthy people from the four counties are good, so get out of here."
Zhu Baogan smiled and stepped back, clenching his fists tightly.
Meng Huo lowered his head with dissatisfaction on his face. Weng said in a thick voice: "Father, I don't understand why we are afraid of the Sichuan Army. We have 100,000 people and the Sichuan Army only has 70,000. What can Liu Zhang do to me? The battle is still over.
If I don’t fight, I will be afraid, the child will not be reconciled, and the child will not be convinced.”
"Why are you unconvinced? You didn't lose enough in yesterday's battle? This morning you brought back less than a hundred warriors out of three thousand, what else do you want?"
"That's why we fight, father, don't you know? Liu Zhang executed my tribesmen with spears on the spot to threaten other tribesmen to surrender. Father, do you know how indignant the barbarian soldiers are now? Liu Zhang did this, if we still surrender
, then won’t we, the people of Nanzhong, lose all our prestige and be unable to hold our heads high again in the future?”
"I, Meng Huo, would rather die standing than live on my knees. I want to retreat with my father and my own army, leaving the bloody Nanzhong men to my son, who wants to fight Liu Zhang to the death."
"You, you, you...are you looking for death?"
"Your Majesty..."
"Get out of here."
Zhu Bao was about to step forward when he was shouted back by Meng Yao. Meng Huo winked at Meng You. Meng You rolled his eyes and stepped forward and said: "Father, you can't say that. How can you say that we are fighting against the Sichuan army?"
Are you looking for death? Has father forgotten that we are in danger of losing water?
Now is the season when the flowers are dying, and the river water is extremely poisonous (it comes from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and most of this book's Battle of the Southern Barbarians is based on the novel). As long as we retreat to the south of the Lu River and close up the boats, Liu Zhang will not be able to survive.
If we are short, we will retreat over time. At that time, we can advance into the four counties and establish an invincible position."
"Lushui." Meng Yao muttered, and Dong Dana immediately stepped forward and said: "No, Your Majesty. Although Liu Zhang is cruel, he is not an untrustworthy person. The Sichuan army is strong, and we should value peace. If we take advantage of the Sichuan army's withdrawal, we can attack the four sides."
County, the rift can never be healed."
"Dong Dana, you coward." Meng Huo was furious.
"Okay, let me think about it." Meng Yao stroked his forehead and thought for a while, "Retreat to the south of Lushui and wait for changes. This does not violate our original intention of stopping the troops and making peace. If the Sichuan army really retreats, we
We can take advantage of the situation. Well, the water in Lushui is poisonous. This is a safe move. Okay, let's deal with it like this for the time being."
Dong Dana: "No, Your Majesty."
"My father is wise." Meng Huo, Meng You, A Huinan and Zhu Bao bowed in unison.
………………
"Report, the barbarian army retreated to the south of Lu River and camped in a line facing the water."
When the soldiers came to report, Huang Yueying said to Liu Zhang: "My lord, it seems that the barbarian army is waiting for us to run out of food and grass and withdraw automatically."
"Meng Yao has indeed rebelled. Yueying, what do you think?"
"I don't have any objections, I just want to fight."
Liu Zhang and Huang Yueying took the generals of the Sichuan Army to Lu River to check out the barbarian camp opposite. They saw that the Lu water was clear, with fallen flowers floating on the water and flowing down the river. The barbarian camp opposite them was lined up in a line, stretching for several miles.
Huang Yueying inspected the waterfront, looked at the barbarian camp and said: "The barbarian army is so bold. There are no sentries up and down Shazhu. Why is Meng Yao so confident? I think there must be something fishy."
At this time, a soldier came to report: "Reporting to my lord, military advisor, we sent soldiers to make rafts to try to cross the river, but the rafts sank directly into the water. The soldiers fell into the river water that was less than their waists, and all of them died of ulcers."
Liu Zhang's expression twisted, "I heard that there are many poisonous springs and poisonous rivers in Nanzhong. Could this river be one of them?" Liu Zhang didn't remember Zhuge Liang's Battle of Nanzhong carefully. Anyway, it was poisonous all the way. There were poisonous rivers and poisonous springs everywhere.
, I guess Lushui is the same.
"Isn't it dangerous to be poisonous? Ask a local native. Lushui is close to four counties. He knows a little bit about our new policies. If he has a good impression of us, he should be able to ask. It's just that my subordinates are thinking that this battle should be fought.
To what extent, please let me know."
"How about repelling it? How about hitting it hard?"
"It's easy to repel and inflict serious damage. With the barbarian army's large camp layout, as long as we sneak across the Lu River, we can only be beaten passively. Even if we have to throw all 100,000 men like Meng Yao into the Lu River, Yueying can do it.
.
But if this happens, the southern barbarians may never have peace and be repulsed. The barbarian army will retreat south and camp. We still face the same problem. We must establish power without enmity. Without a map, the deeper we go into the barren land, the harder it will be.
Yueying's idea is that if it is to be repulsed, we will ask the natives to draw a sketch, attack in, and capture them seven times. I don't believe that Meng Yao and the southern barbarians who are the main warlords are all stupid.
It's just that the Southern Barbarians are no better than the Western Qiang, and the map of the Qiang village in the grassland is much simpler than the map of the cave in the jungle. Even if there is a map, our army cannot gallop like in the grassland in the harsh mountains and rivers of the jungle.
If we are severely damaged, we can defeat the Southern Barbarians for several years and make them unable to recover. At the same time, we will form a big enemy. We will win over the forces in the Southern Barbarians and move them along the Silk Road, giving them benefits and allowing them to resist the barbarian armies of other tribes.
It’s just that the Southern Barbarians are different from the Wuxi Barbarians and the Western Qiang. In the Wuxi Barbarians, we have the friendly Youxi tribe, and in the Western Qiang, we have the friendly Tsing Yi Qiang. We don’t understand the Southern Barbarians at all, and it’s really difficult to grasp. It will take at least several years to win over and immigrate.
Time, the opening of the Silk Road is a big issue."
Liu Zhang looked at the magnificent barbarian camp opposite and sighed: "Okay, let's go back and think about it first. When we make a decision, we will deal with these barbarians."
Liu Zhang and Huang Yueying returned to the camp and discussed it all night. They analyzed the pros and cons of the two strategies from various aspects such as the Silk Road, people's hearts, time, and food and grass. In the end, it was difficult to make a decision, but both of them were more inclined to suffer heavy losses.
To repel them, there was no one percent chance of victory. They were simply making fun of the lives of 70,000 Sichuan soldiers.
It's just that serious damage would mean giving up the Silk Road. Liu Zhang was unwilling to give up after having paid so much for the Silk Road.
"My lord, there is no need to be reluctant. After we capture Xiliang and open the Yumen Pass, we will be able to connect to the Western Regions and trade with the Yuezhi Kingdom and the Great Qin Kingdom. What about Luo Yue? He is poisonous. Let him go."
The two finally decided to severely inflict a heavy blow on the Nanman army. They asked the natives that the Lu River was naturally weak and could not be used by boats. Moreover, it was indeed poisonous. The petals from the upper reaches settled into the water and the heat evaporated, so it was naturally poisonous.
But as long as you wait until the latter half of the night, before dawn, the toxicity is the lowest and you can wade through the water.
Liu Zhang and Huang Yueying decided to sneak across the river in the middle of the night. They immediately called the generals to discuss and issued the order for a sneak attack. After ordering to cross the river, they followed the military advisor's instructions and did not take prisoners, but only killed as many as they could kill. Both the Wuxi Army and the Sichuan Army were gearing up, waiting for a big battle.
.
The soldiers gathered together without making any noise. Liu Zhang was about to get the sword on the wall when suddenly a soldier came in and reported: "My lord, businessman Yin Bai is here to visit. He said he has something important to discuss. Do you want to meet him?"