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 also jointly sent troops to capture the entire Japanese kingdom.
When Song King Zhao Kuangyin 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 from ear to ear.
Isn't it wonderful that Da Qin, which has always been arrogant and domineering, would lower its arrogant head and ask for help from its weak allies?
But then I thought about it, why did Great Qin only ask for help from Wei and Wu, but did not want to ask for help from Song, which was also an ally and was closer?
Wei State only had Yingchuan County bordering Qin State's Nanyang County, while the land of Yuzhou occupied by 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.
However, Qin, which has always been smart, chose to seek help from Wei instead of Song this time. This naturally made Song think a lot.
"Sure enough, Da Qin still cares about that matter."
"Lu Yuedu is not from the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty has already 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 broke down.
Emperor Qin Yinghao sent Zhang Yi as an envoy to Shouchun to question the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty. Why did they ignore the friendship of their allies and send Lu Yue and Shen Gongbao into Guanzhong to fight against the Qin Dynasty?
In this regard, Zhao Kuangyin's answer was that this was the personal choice of the two people and had little to do with the Song Dynasty.
Then Zhang Yi proposed to let Song State hand over Shen Gongbao to Da Qin.
Zhao Kuangyin was naturally good at handing over people. After all, Shen Gongbao and Zhao Gongming were close friends. What would Zhao Gongming think if he handed over Shen Gongbao?
Moreover, 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 will not accept those evil heretics. Zhao Kuangyin's Song State does not pick people.
Regardless of whether he was evil or not, Zhao Kuangyin could still accept it even if he didn't have much loyalty at all as long as he could serve him.
Zhao Kuangyin refused to surrender and tried to protect Shen Gongbao, which caused a sharp decline in the diplomatic relations between Qin and Song Dynasty.
This time, the Qin State sacrificed the near and sought the distant, asking for help from Wei and Wu, 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 in 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 probably directly refuse.
Unlike the Wei State, the Song State 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 reject Qin, so it naturally dared not send troops to aid Qin. After all, there was nothing that 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 that Qin, Wei, and Wu will reach a state of Song. Not aware of the plot.
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 caravan.
The Song State, which was accustomed to reaping benefits from following the Qin Dynasty and its rapid development of national power, obviously no longer wanted to live a fussy life like before.
But everything they have now, not only because of Great Qin, but at least half of it is because of Great Qin, and 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 the 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 about 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 was cautious and instinctively suspected the Song State's intentions. Could it be that the Song State had secretly formed an alliance with the Chu State and was preparing to cooperate with the Chu State in a sneak attack on the Qin army's rear under the pretext of support?
But this shouldn't be the case. Whether it is the Wei army or the Song army, after entering Jingzhou, the food and grass will be supplied by the Qin army. In other words, the lifeline is in the hands of the Qin army.
If they really dare to stab the Qin army in the back, the Qin army only needs to cut off its food and grass. In a few days, the Song army will 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 defect.
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 figure out 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 Song directly for help, he would most likely be rejected directly by Zhao Kuangyin, but he never expected that bypassing Song and directly asking Wei and Wu for help, Song would take the initiative to come for help.
It's really a chance meeting.
For free thugs like Song Guo, Guan Zhong naturally refused to accept anyone who came, as many as he wanted, 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 to help Huang Feihu. A helping hand.
Guan Zhongyin had a plan to deal with the Chu army that entered Xiangyang territory. If Song came over at this time, it would be easy to alert the enemy. If Deng Yu noticed it, the gain would outweigh the loss.
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 to be the chief general and Zhao Defang to be the deputy general. They led 10,000 Runan troops to Zhangling County to assist in the battle.
Zhao Kuangyin asked his son Zhao Defang to serve as deputy general to Yuan Chonghuang, which was actually paving the way for his successor.
Although Zhao Kuangyin was in his prime and did not need to worry about his successor like the old and frail Sun Jian, he also had his own worries.
After the victory in the Japanese conquest, the Japanese came to continue to supply blood to the Song Dynasty, which greatly increased the national power of the Song Dynasty. As the main general in the Japanese conquest, Zhao Guangyi also naturally had a great increase in prestige. He was almost second only to Zhao Kuangyin, the Song king, in the Song Dynasty. His position and authority have become increasingly consolidated.
At first, Zhao Kuangyin was aware of Zhao Guangyi's ambitions. By the time he realized that Zhao Guangyi was suspected of forming a clique for personal gain, his younger brother Zhao Guangyi was already in trouble.
Without conclusive evidence, Zhao Kuangyin could not target the meritorious official, not to mention that this person was his biological brother, so he had to pave the way for his successor first, while looking for opportunities to lower Zhao Guangyi's prestige.
"Report...report to the king that General Zhao She is back."
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.
After the Qin Dynasty occupied Guanzhong, although Zhao She escaped from Chang'an, he lost track of him since then.
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 could escape alive.
When Zhao She saw Zhao Kuangyin, her eyes suddenly turned red. She stepped forward and subconsciously prepared to hug him, but then she realized that her status was different. Zhao Kuangyin was now the king, and he could no longer be the same as 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: "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, generals such as Zhao She, Li Yuanba, Yu Wentai, Ji Fa, Gao Siji, Gao Xingzhou, Yin Kaishan, Hou Junji, etc. fled Chang'an one after another, preparing to seek opportunities to escape from Guanzhong.
Unexpectedly, after Great Qin occupied Chang'an, it sealed off the entire Guanzhong as quickly as possible. Several key exits from the Pass 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 Great Qin pursuit team searched Zhao She and others very closely. Just when everyone was about to despair, people from the Taoist Taiqing sect contacted them and told them that Taiqing Taoists had come down from the mountain and were preparing to go to Huashan to deal with Emperor Qin in person. Ying Hao, the great masters in Guanzhong will definitely go to Huashan to escort them, and they can take this opportunity to escape from Guanzhong.
With the support of the masters of the Taiqing Sect, Zhao She and others escaped from Guanzhong without any danger, and also captured Bu Jingyun, one of the Seven Swordsmen.
"Why are you arresting 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: "Not long after we fled into Longxi, 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 Qiang. .
Since most people's injuries were not healed yet, they were unable to participate in the Longxi War, so they all chose to recuperate. Ji Fa, who was slightly injured, returned to Longxi.
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, I decided to go our separate ways.
Li Yuanba was taken away by an expert from the Taiqing sect.
Yin Kaishan and Hou Junji 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 serve you, brother. "
Gao Sijihui chose to join the Song Dynasty, naturally not only because of Zhao She, but mainly because the other Gao Huaide, who was related by blood to him, currently held important positions in the Song Dynasty 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 for bravery.
"Brother She, I didn't expect that you would give me such a great gift just after you came back." Zhao Kuangyin laughed.
On the other side, Ji Changji thundered and shocked his son and his son. After retreating into the Qiang land and integrating the Qiang land's Tang army, the number of troops under his command skyrocketed to 30,000, but what followed was the attack of Yang Su's 60,000 Sui army. .
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.
The people of the Qiang area simply supported Li Tang even more. The army left by Li Tang in the Qiang area was mainly cavalry. Coupled with the help of Yu Wentai and Gao Xingzhou, this gave Ji Chang the opportunity to turn defeat into victory.
The battle ended with Ji Chang narrowly defeating Yang Su, killing 10,000 Sui troops and losing 9,000 himself.
Subsequently, Ji Chang took advantage of the victory and negotiated with the Sui State, and expressed his loyalty to the Sui State for some reason.
Yang Guang saw that Ji Chang's army was so capable of fighting that if he forcibly annexed the other side, both sides might lose. In order to occupy the Qiang land at a small price, he accepted Ji Chang's surrender and appointed him as the governor of Yizhou County.
The Sui State had three counties in the Western Region, Tianshan County (Urumqi), Yizhou County (Hami), and Gaochang County (Turpan County);
Yang Guang's original intention of appointing Ji Chang as the governor of Yizhou was actually to completely transfer his army away from the Qiang land and thereby completely control the seven counties of the Qiang land.
In addition, the Western Regions were 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, you can also take this opportunity to see if Ji Chang truly surrenders.
So Yang Guang 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 in exchange for entering the Western Regions, so he cooperated in this way and voluntarily gave up the three relatively wealthy Qiang land counties.
In this way, Yang Guang got 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 occupied seven counties in the Qiang region, he saw Qin and Shu fighting at Yangping Pass. Then Chu, Wei and Wu all participated, and his thoughts began to get excited, and he wanted to see if there was a chance to completely expel the Qin army from Liangzhou.
Therefore, Yang Guang secretly contacted Liu Yu of Shu, and at the same time mobilized troops to the front line, but did not go to war with the Qin army, but just 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 Hanzhong front line, so that the Sui State could benefit.
(End of chapter)
