Chapter 28: Kuang

The city of Kuhan is located in the northeast of the west mountain of Kunlun Mountain. Thirty miles south of the city is the snow-covered Prince Peak, which never melts all year round. It is said that the prince of the Queen Mother of the West once practiced to become an immortal here. It is a place where immortals stayed, and of course it is a blessed land. Therefore, Song Jian took advantage of the Yellow Turban Uprising and the world was in chaos and chose this place as his capital. He was called the King of Pinghan in Heshou and was granted a title of officials. He was appointed as the official of all the three aunts and six uncles who had something to do with their family, and became the local emperor in this remote mountain.

.The Central Plains was in chaos, and Xiliang was in chaos. The emperor was in danger of peace and could not even settle down in Xiliang. Of course, there was no intention to pacify the King of Pinghan. Ma Teng and Han Sui fought lively and had no intention to beat him. Besides, they also hoped that someone would be the king and become the 200 kings to try the court's attitude, so they agreed to his existence and had friendly contacts with him. Therefore, Song Jianxiao was free to be the King of Pinghan here for 30 years, and his life was very comfortable.

At least that's what he thinks.

Song Jian is from Lintao, and his family has little wealth. He can be regarded as a local tyrant. It is said that he is the same clan as the Queen Song of Emperor Xiaoling. They are both descendants of Song Chang, a famous minister of the Western Han Dynasty. However, that happened a long time ago. Even Song Jian himself could not tell when their family moved to Lintao. He said that, of course no one came to oppose him. The Han people nearby knew what the Qiang people knew, and they didn't know a single big word. For them, the Han Dynasty was even higher than the snow-capped mountains in the clouds. The emperor and the queen were like the mysterious gods.

When he heard that their family had a queen, he thought that Song Jian should at least be a noble person. He would probably be qualified to be the King of Pinghan, so let him be the King of Pinghan anyway. Anyway, this King of Pinghan is kind, unlike those officials of the Han Dynasty who collected taxes and wanted to take away the last handful of noodles in their family. They usually collect endless military service and labor service, so that they will not let them live a good life. The King of Pinghan is good. Although he also collects taxes, he can still keep food. The people have low requirements and can survive. That's all, who will rule him.

Song Jian was doing well. He drank good wine every day, the beauties fell asleep, and the tender lamb meat was eaten. He listened to the decent mountains in front of him, and he felt that life was so beautiful. This mountain, this piece of water, the people, cattle and sheep here belonged to him, and he was the king who was high above here. The cows and sheep are full of food, and the houses are full of beauties. Isn’t life this fun?

Although Song Jian may not know this principle, he practiced this famous saying very well. Every day, he went to court to listen to the officials report some miscellaneous things, and went to the piled granary to take a look, and then came back with satisfaction to drink and enjoy happiness.

But today he heard a piece of news that made him unhappy. Several people who escaped from Daxia City said that a large group of extremely vicious troops had come to surround the Qiang and Han people in the Changli River Valley. Judging from their posture, they seemed to be ready to kill them together. As for whom they were, those people didn't know how to read, and they didn't know where they came from. Anyway, they didn't seem to be good people.

Song Jian was furious and threw the golden cup in his hand away. He slapped the beauty next to him with five fingerprints on the face, stood up and shouted: "I will send an order to order the general to immediately order the troops and kill the thieves."

The general of the King of Pinghan was his eldest son, and he was led by more than 3,000 troops of Qiang and Han. Song Jian heard that the emperor had the Northern Army, the Northern Army was in charge of the conquest and the Southern Army was in charge of the palace guards, so these more than 3,000 people were his Northern Army Five Clans. However, these people were not permanent troops, and most of the time they had to go to the surrounding valleys to grazed sheep, and there was no time to recruit them for a while, so the general took more than 1,000 people in the camp. When he usually went to rectify those disobedient tribes, he only brought so many people, and they were always successful.

Seeing the general leaving with great courage, Comrade Song Jian, the King of Pinghan, was in a little better mood, and then he returned to the mansion to reopen the banquet. When he saw that the people had not left yet, he remembered something. He took a sip of sweet wine, chewed a piece of lamb served by the beauty, and asked vaguely: "How many of those people are there?"

The Qiang people swallowed their saliva and muttered. Song Jian didn't hear it clearly. He put down the golden cup with some displeasure and frowned and said, "How many people are there?"

"I can't count..." Seeing that Song Jian was angry, the Qiang Min hurriedly retracted his eyes on the beauty: "Even Daxia City has not settled, and some of them are still stationed outside the city."

"Oh." Song Jian responded unconsciously, raised the wine glass again, opened his mouth and had not drunk it yet, he was stunned, and widened his eyes and shouted in horror: "Isn't Daxia City enough for them to live in?"

"Yes." The Qiang Min nodded heavily, indicating that none of his words were lies.

Song Jian's eyes were rolling around, and he was stunned. Sweat on his forehead rolled down one by one, his hands trembled involuntarily. The golden cup fell to the ground again, and the wine sprinkled on the wool blanket, and soon disappeared. The Qiang people looked at Song Jian with some strangeness. Song Jian suddenly shouted: "Hurry, recall the general."

The guards were shocked. Before they could react, Song Jian stepped forward and grabbed his guard, slapped him, and shouted: "Call the general back immediately, recall all the soldiers, and prepare to face the enemy."

"Here." Wei Wei was slapped, and finally realized that something big happened. He hurriedly ran out with his hot face.

The person who sent the order had not left the city yet, and the general who went to the expedition had returned, but was just picked up by someone.

When Xiahou Yuan heard about the river head, Song Jian, the King of Han, was in the city of Shihan, seventy miles away in front of him, he immediately became energetic and ordered Zhang He and Xiahou to immediately advance towards Shihan City. Xiahou said that he was punished and could not move for a moment, so Xiahou Yuan asked Xu Yi to temporarily lead the army. Under the leadership of the Qiang people, the 10,000 troops crossed mountains and ridges and rushed towards Shihan. Ten miles outside Shihan City, they bumped into the general who had just left the city.

Seeing that there were only more than a thousand rebels on the opposite side, most of them were wearing leather armor, and the weapons in their hands were not standard. Xu Yi, who was on the front, grinned and divided them into two groups with tacit understanding. He rushed forward and surrounded them together. During the run, he shot out a rain of arrows, and beat the disorganized rebels to a slap. Then he rushed forward and slashed the rebels. Before he could even shout out, the poor general was killed by Leju to the front. He was kicked so hard that he vomited blood. Then he followed Leju's personal guard and tied him into rice dumplings. If he hadn't seen him dressed like a high-ranking official, there might have been many personal guards around him.

At this time, Zhang He, the rear army, rushed to the scene with his men. Looking at the defeated soldiers kneeling all over the ground, Zhang He shook his head with a smile, discussed with Xu Yi and Leqi, and escorted the unlucky general and hundreds of defeated soldiers, and headed straight to the city of Shihan.

As soon as Song Jian's order was issued, he heard that the general was back. Before his smile had piled up on his face, he heard that he had been lifted back and his face turned pale. He stumbled onto the city and saw a 10,000 army surrounded the city. His general was entrusted in front, his helmet was lost, his clothes were torn, and his hair was bleak, and he felt heartbroken.

Xu Yi ordered people to persuade the surrender. Song Jian, who was furious, refused and ordered the city to shoot arrows. Xu Yi was furious and killed his general's son in front of the formation, and then ordered the city to attack. Ten thousand troops were divided into two groups. Xu Yi and Le Chiu strongly attacked the city gate, and Du Yu and Qiao Yue responded from the side. The city of Kuanghan was built along the mountain. Although it was not big, the location was good. The stone rolling wood on the top of the city was smashed down, killing many Cao's troops, especially Xu Yi, who was sieging the city gate.

There were a hundred people. However, there were too few people in the city, and the fighting experience was incomparable to Cao's army. After half an hour of attack and killing, Qiao Yue was the first to kill the city wall with weaker defense. He was so aggressive that he only took his personal guards to chase the guards who ran away with his head, but forgot to open the city gate. Xu Yi was so angry that he was furious at the city. Du Yu was still familiar with Zhang He's thoughts. The first thing he did after rushing to the city was to open the city gate and let Xu Yi enter the city.

Xu Yi was furious and led his men to the palace to kill him. He searched Song Jian who was hiding inside and ordered him to surrender. Song Jian was already crazy. He laughed at Xu Yi and just didn't say anything. Xu Yi was too lazy to talk to him. He beheaded Song Jian with one knife, and then ordered all those who did not surrender to be killed on the spot. The soldiers who were like wolves and tigers rushed to the city. In less than an hour, they controlled the entire Shihan City and brought the pale civil and military officials and beauties in the harem to Xu Yi.

Looking at the full granary, Xu Yi and Le Jin were overjoyed and pulled Zhang He who was scolding Qiao Yue to see him. Zhang He was also very happy. He immediately asked someone to count the number of food and cattle and sheep, and then sent someone to notify Xiahou Yuan. Xiahou Yuan was preparing to fight Han Yin and Cheng Gongying who were almost chasing behind his butt. He heard that he had taken down the city of Shihan and solved the problem of military rations. He was very happy and immediately ordered Zhang He and others to bring food and grass back to the rescue. After he was about to attack Han Yin in Daxia City, he would immediately return to the army and attack Jincheng again.

At dusk, Han Yin and Cheng Gongying led the army to the city of Daxia. Seeing that Cao's army was holding the city, the defense was strong, Han Yin did not dare to attack the city. Although Daxia City was small, the cavalry was not good at siegeing the city after all, and Cao's army's crossbows were powerful, and reckless siege would only cause losses. After discussing with Cheng Gongying, he decided to set up a camp outside the city, while sending someone to contact Song Jian, hoping that he could provide some food and grass, and bluff behind Xiahou Yuan to disturb Xiahou Yuan's mind.

Cheng Gongying was a little confused. He felt that Xiahou Yuan had been in Daxia City for two days, and there was no reason not to know the existence of Kuhan City. Since he knew, there was no reason to stay here. He should go to Kuhan City to take Kuhan City and rest. And he is still here now, there is only one possibility, that is, he has already Kuhan City.

Han Yin was a little unstable by Cheng Gongying. If Shihan City was really taken down by Xiahou Yuan, it would be difficult for him to defeat Xiahou Yuan again. His biggest advantage was that Xiahou Yuan's food and grass were about to be exhausted and his morale was unstable. If he got supplies from Shihan City, this advantage would be gone, and the remaining two armies would be able to fight to the death with their strength.

Han Yin was hesitant, but the Qiang people under his command were anxious. They came here to save their family. Xiahou Yuan arrived here first, and he didn't know if his family was hurt by his evil deeds. Han Yin had no choice but to send some people to Changli to inquire about the situation, and he would take a night off first, and then make a decision when he got the news tomorrow.

In the middle of the night, Han Yin, who had just been asleep, was woken up by Cheng Gongying. Cheng Gongying's face was very bad. He said to Han Yin anxiously: "Major General, let's retreat quickly. The Qiang family members in Changli were all kidnapped by Xiahou Yuan's people. Life and death are unknown. There is nothing in the valley. If you wait any longer, you may not be able to control the situation."

Han Yin was still a little confused. He shook his dizzy head and asked blankly, "Go away at this time?"

"You have to leave if you don't leave. Once the Qiang people know the news tomorrow morning, they will definitely go crazy and fight with Xiahou Yuan. This place is full of river valleys and mountains. Our cavalry cannot play a role. It is better to retreat ten miles away. There is a flat land there, which is suitable for us to ambush." ​​Cheng Gongying lowered his voice and pointed to the map and said. Han Yin knew the place he was pointing to. When they came, they were worried that Xiahou Yuan would be hitting them there. Now they have to use this place to fight Xiahou Yuan's ambush.

"Just... can they be willing to leave?" Han Yin was a little worried: "Can Xiahou Yuan chase after him?"

"We have to leave if we don't leave. We just say that we found signs of Cao's army later. If we don't leave, we may be trapped and attacked by Cao's army. Only by taking a step back can we jump out of the encirclement." Cheng Gongying had been prepared for a long time. He said calmly: "Xiahou Yuan was rushed here by us and Ma Mengqi. He will definitely send a scout to inquire about our strength. I have asked Ma Yuangao to put away the Ma family battle flag and let him squeeze into our stove for dinner. In this way, Xiahou Yuan will think that we are the only one chasing us, and Ma Chao has not come. Now that we retreat, he will definitely feel that we are guilty. How can we not pursue it? Of course, he hopes to hurt us first and then go back to fight Jincheng. Would he be willing to stay here forever?"

Han Yin looked at Cheng Gongying with appreciation, patted him on the shoulder and praised, "Yuanjie, you are such a genius. Everything is accurate. With your help, what else can I worry about? Okay, I will call them up immediately and withdraw them overnight."

The generals were called up in the middle of the night, rubbing their eyes one by one, but they didn't know what Han Yin was doing. Han Yin glanced at Cheng Gongying and signaled him to say. Cheng Gongying said to everyone anxiously, "Everyone, you can't wait here. Xiahou Yuan has taken down the city of Shihan and is chasing Song Jian. We have found traces of Cao's army behind us. If we don't leave, we may be attacked by Cao's army on both sides."

When the generals heard this, they were shocked and the Cao army appeared behind them. This was really terrible for them. If they were attacked by the Cao army behind them while siegeing the city, the morale of the army would inevitably be in chaos and it would be difficult to be defeated. Some people immediately wanted to go back to clean up, but some were still thinking about their families and raised questions.

Cheng Gongying smiled and said, "Don't worry, although there is no accurate news yet, Xiahou Yuan is not a good person. If he arrives in Changli, he will definitely start a massacre, and then we will receive a message from your family. Since there is no message now, it means that your family is still safe. When we defeat Xiahou Yuan, you will receive the message."

When the Qiang people heard that their family members were safe, they were relieved. They immediately got up and rushed back before dawn, setting up an ambush ten miles behind them, waiting for Xiahou Yuan to chase them. As Cheng Gongying expected, Xiahou Yuan received a reward from the scout, saying that only Han Sui was the one who chased them, and when Ma Chao was not there, he had already let go of half of his heart and decided to eat Han Yin and the 20,000 people. When Han Yin ran away overnight, he laughed and immediately prepared to go out of the city to pursue him. At this time, Xu Huang called

After expressing his objection, he told Xiahou Yuan that the other party was a cavalry and we were infantry. If they fled in a hurry, we would not be able to catch up with them at all. Besides, Zhang He and the others were still in Kuanghan City, and they would have to bring a large amount of food and grass. It would take at least two days to get here. If we leave now, they would definitely not be able to catch up. At that time, our troops were dispersed and the food and grass could not be replenished. How could we defeat the other party? It would be better to wait for them to arrive, and we would have a rest, and it would not be too late to leave at that time.

Xiahou Yuan was still a little hesitant. Xiahou said that it was very difficult for infantry to chase after the cavalry. Even if they catch up, they were afraid that the soldiers would be too tired to fight. Moreover, no matter how fast they ran, it would be useless. Anyway, they were going back to Jincheng. As long as we arrived at Jincheng, we would not be afraid that they would run away. Walking slowly can maintain the soldiers' physical strength.

Zhu Ling, Guo Huai, and Yan Xing also expressed their support after hearing what Xiahou Cheng said. Xiahou Yuan asked Ma Su again, and Ma Su also said that Xiahou Cheng's method was more stable. When Xiahou Yuan saw him, he no longer insisted and decided to wait for two more days in Daxia City and wait for Zhang He and the others to arrive before talking.

Two days later, Zhang He and others rushed to Daxia City with a large number of food, grass, cattle and sheep, and were accompanied by Meng Da and Deng Zhi.

After receiving Cao Chong's military order, Meng Da and Deng Zhi immediately set off from Chengdu and rushed to Baishui Pass to lead 5,000 people. With Yang Huai and Gao Pei enviously, they rushed to Wudu County and rushed into the territory of the Qiang people along the southern foot of Kunlun Mountain. Because Ma Chao took away most of the elite soldiers, the resistance they encountered was really limited. They swept the Qiang tribe at an unexpected speed and killed the foot of Xiqing Mountain. After discussing, the two felt that the sweeping was almost done. They should return to the army to participate in the encirclement of Hanyang County, and the baggage they brought was almost consumed, so they should find one.

Let's add somewhere. They learned from the Qiang people's surrendered soldiers that Song Jian, the King of Pinghan, was very rich, and immediately became energetic. He defeated Song Jian, which could not only replenish supplies and make a fortune, but also make a great contribution. Although Song Jian was just an incompetent thing, who made him call him the king? The Prime Minister was so successful that he was named Wuping King. He dared to be the king and he was also Pinghan. He was so brave. The two of them rushed to the city of Qinghan excitedly and realized that someone had taken the lead, and this person was the old acquaintance Xu Yi.

Meng Da and Xu Yi had a great conversation as soon as they met. When they learned that the leader general Xiahou Yuan was in Daxia City, they immediately followed him. Xiahou Yuan had added five thousand troops and was quite happy. He gathered everyone together to discuss military affairs and was preparing to attack Jincheng. After hearing Xiahou Yuan's plan, Meng Da shook his head a little, but he met Xiahou Yuan for the first time and did not know Xiahou Yuan's temper very well. He did not dare to be reckless for a moment, so he had to look at Xu Yi. Xiahou Yuan saw his expression in his eyes, and smiled and said, "General Meng, just say anything. Let's talk about it and discuss it, don't have any scruples."

Meng Da smiled awkwardly. He stood up and saluted everyone, and then said, "It is said that the general came to Jincheng to attack Han Sui's momentum and force him to surrender. However, Ma Chao, who had chased him, did not appear now. This situation is really suspicious. The general brought more than 20,000 people. Now the general of the chariot and cavalry are in Shangji, but there are only less than 20,000 people. Ma Chao hurried back and gave up the great opportunity to jointly attack the general with Han Sui. Obviously, there is better in Shangji.

Opportunity. What opportunity can Shangji have more attractive than attacking the general? It’s just that you can attack the General of Cheqi and Cavalry. Shangji is a small city, but after the general’s renovation, the defense should not be bad. The General of Cheqi and Cavalry defends the city 20,000 people. What opportunity can Ma Chao have even if he has 30,000 people? But he left 10,000 people to defend Jicheng. It should be said that General Cheqi and Cavalry will not have any chance. Why did he rush back in a hurry? I think there must be some problems we don’t know yet.

After hearing Meng Da’s words, Xiahou Yuan couldn’t help frowning. The question he had been hiding in his heart emerged again. It seemed that something was wrong, but he couldn’t grasp what it was. He thought hard for a while but still couldn’t find a clue. He raised his head and looked at everyone, and looked at Meng Da again: “General Meng means not to attack Jincheng anymore?”

Meng Da said: "According to the general, there are nearly 40,000 troops in Jincheng. Even if we rushed over, we were not sure to take down Jincheng. Maybe we would be in trouble under the city. We are in Longxi County now, so why don't we go east directly to take down Longxi and Wudu, block Ma Chao's retreat, and encircle and annihilate Ma Chao with General Cheqi and Cavalry. Ma Chao and Han Sui were originally one. No matter which one they defeated, they could break their alliance, and the remaining ones would be

There is no support. Besides, Han Sui's foundation is in Jincheng. Changli has been defeated by the general, and Kuohan has also fallen into the hands of the general. As long as the general leaves all the people to guard it, Han Sui is in a turtle in the jar and has nowhere to escape. Ma Chao's foundation is in the mountains. If he does not take this opportunity to kill him in one fell swoop and let him escape back to the mountain. If he wants to annihilate him in the future, there will be no such good opportunity. Longxi, Wudu, and Jincheng will be in peace."

Xiahou Yuan pondered and said nothing. Cao Chong gave him the task not to let him fight Jincheng, but to increase the pressure on Han Sui. Now he fought all the way to Yuzhong, and now he won the Qinghan and Daxia, swept Changli, and had completed the task successfully. Now he chased to Jincheng again, and he might not be able to take Jincheng. Ma Chao let himself not fight, and hurried back to the impregnable Jicheng. As Meng Da said, there might be some unknown reason. Even if this reason is wrong, Cao Chong led less than 20,000 people to restrain Ma Chao as a side army for him, and this face is given enough. If Cao Chong had any accidents, no matter how great his contribution was, it would be useless. What's more, because of the reason Xiahou said, his family was already connected with Cao Chong. If Cao Chong had any mistakes, he would have nothing left.

It’s better to stop when you see it’s better. Follow Meng Da’s advice, he will fight back from Longxi County and block Ma Chao’s retreat. He will clean up the horse first, and then deal with Han Sui.
Chapter completed!