In November of the fourth year of Jianxing, Zhuge Liang arrived in Guanzhong with 40,000 troops and stationed himself in Shanggui City on Longshan Road.
Zhang Xi, the governor of Yongzhou, and Pang De, the Qiang guard captain, were ordered to rush to Shanggui City to counsel the military aircraft and put down the rebellion.
Pang De is the captain who protects the Qiang. He is directly responsible for the Qiang rebellion, and he must have Zhuge Liang to obey his orders.
As for Zhang Xi, he was purely a helper called by Zhuge Liang.
To be honest, Zhuge Liang feels a little unsure now.
One of the most important reasons is that Zhuge Liang's military strength is seriously insufficient.
Originally, according to Zhuge Liang's idea, he led 30,000 Northern troops to Hanzhong first and joined the 30,000 county troops under Li Yan's command in Hanzhong. A total of 60,000 people entered Qinzhou.
With 60,000 Han troops, even if the local garrison in Yongzhou is not mobilized, it is enough to deal with the Qiang people in Qinzhou.
But the problem is that this Qiang rebellion is much more serious than Zhuge Liang thought.
Jiang Xu is not the kind of incompetent person who relies on his family background to get into high positions. He was forced to stay in Tianshui County, which shows the seriousness of the Qiang rebellion this time.
It's not that Zhuge Liang hasn't thought about this, but the actual situation is much more serious than the information Zhuge Liang obtained.
This Qiang rebellion caused such a large scale and serious consequences not only because of the large number of Qiang people, but the most important reason is that the people of Qiang rebellion are very united this time.
In this era, the reason why most rebellions by the Hu people failed was that the Hu people did not get along with each other. Although they gathered together to rebel because of temporary mutual interests, as long as there was division and dissension, the Hu people would be suspicious of each other, and they would not be able to achieve anything. .
But this time the Qiang people were in rebellion, unlike in the past, people were united.
From Wudu County in the south to Wuwei County in the north, almost all the Qiang people in the six counties in between were incited and joined the rebellion.
The number of Qiang soldiers in Qinzhou who rebelled in the early stage was indeed only one hundred thousand, but by the time Zhuge Liang led his troops into Hanzhong, the exact number of Qiang soldiers in rebellion could not be calculated.
Even some Qiang people in Wudu County joined the rebellion, attacking Wudu County and even threatening the Hanzhong border.
Under this situation, Li Yan did not dare to follow Zhuge Liang on the expedition. He had to stay and defend Hanzhong.
This time it is really not that Li Yan is being petty and lying to keep his position. These are all true.
Even after Zhuge Liang led his troops into Hanzhong, Li Yan immediately found Zhuge Liang, frankly told the dangers Hanzhong was facing now, and put forward his own suggestions.
He suggested that Zhuge Liang give up his original plan to pacify the Qiang and instead imitate Ma Chao's strategy during the Battle of Hanzhong, passing through Didao in Wudu County and directly entering the Qiang settlements to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao.
The Qiang people are in rebellion just for money and food to survive the winter. The Qiang people don't care about the land of Qinzhou.
Once their hometown is attacked by someone, no matter how much money or food they rob, it will be of no use. Therefore, as soon as the news of Zhuge Liang's departure from Didao reaches the ears of the Qiang people in Qinzhou, these Qiang people will inevitably retreat to protect their homeland. In this way, the siege of Qinzhou Solve yourself.
Or, if Zhuge Liang thinks that the strategy of leaving Didao is too dangerous, he can also follow the old emperor's old wisdom of the Northern Expedition, take the Qishan Road, occupy Xi County, occupy Nan'an, cut off the Qiang people's retreat, and then order Yongzhou Governor Zhang Xi to lead the troops northward. Stationed in Shanggui and attacked from the front and back, the Qiang people can be defeated in one battle.
It can be said that these two strategies are not bad ideas, and Zhuge Liang once thought so.
Really, if it was not winter but summer, then Zhuge Liang might really choose one of Li Yan's two strategies.
But unfortunately, it is winter now. If the snowstorm continues in Qinzhou this year, let alone whether the Qiang people can survive it, Jiang Xu, who is trapped in Tianshui, is not completely sure that he can survive it.
This is the focus of Zhuge Liang's original strategy to quell the Qiang. He must enter Qinzhou as soon as possible, relieve the siege of Tianshui County, and stabilize the people of Qinzhou.
Another one is Li Yan's strategy. In fact, Zhuge Liang can also see the intention in it.
Whether taking Didao or Qishan, the Qiang rebellion in Wudu County must be quelled first, otherwise the logistics supply line will always face the threat of rebellious Qiang people.
And Li Yan's real purpose is this.
As long as the Qiang rebellion in Wudu County is put down, there will naturally be no threat to Hanzhong, and Li Yan's interests in Hanzhong will be preserved.
To put it bluntly, although Li Yan's strategy is also a good one, his purpose for offering this strategy is not pure. He does not look at the problem completely from the perspective of the big man, but still mostly from his own perspective.
This Li Yan, Zhuge Liang is real, the more he looks at it, the more angry he becomes.
He is obviously an all-rounder with knowledge of both military and political matters, but his mind is not focused on the right path. If he could be less selfish and more public-minded, he would still be just a prefect of a county! ! !
But Zhuge Liang still couldn't treat Li Yan too harshly.
After all, Li Yan was also an important contributor to the late emperor's entry into Sichuan, and as the actual controller of the Dongzhou faction, he had considerable power. Even if he knew that he had selfish motives, Zhuge Liang could only politely refuse his advice. , and so comforting.
Considering the actual threats Hanzhong encountered, the Qiang people in Wudu County really needed to be on guard and not allowed to enter Hanzhong. Therefore, Zhuge Liang could only transfer 10,000 county soldiers from Hanzhong, leaving 20,000 county soldiers for Li Yan. , let Li Yan stay in Hanzhong to ensure that nothing goes wrong in Hanzhong.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang could only continue northward with 40,000 Han troops, taking the Chencang Road and entering Shanggui.
This was the first reason why Zhang Xi was called here - there were insufficient troops. If there was no outstanding general to command, this counterinsurgency would easily go wrong.
The second reason why Zhang Xi was transferred to Shanggui was that during the Northern Expedition, Zhang Xi had fought between Tianshui and Longshan Road and was familiar with the geography. At the same time, Zhang Xi was good at maneuvering and could also help Zhuge Liang by checking for mistakes and filling them. Come up with ideas.
Counting this time, it was only the second time that Zhuge Liang led troops on his own expedition. He was also afraid that he had made the wrong decision, and he could not be too cautious.
As for the Yongzhou soldiers, Zhuge Liang did not mobilize any of them, but Zhuge Liang still mobilized Zhang Xi, the governor of Yongzhou.
Zhang Xi, who received the transfer order, did not hesitate, quickly completed the handover of government affairs in Yongzhou, and rushed directly to Shanggui.
In fact, there is nothing to hand over. Most of the government affairs in Yongzhou are left to Jiang Wan and Chen Zhi, and the military affairs are managed by Wei Yan. In fact, there is really not much difference whether Zhang Xi stays in Yongzhou or not.
Therefore, it only took Zhang Xi less than ten days to arrive at Shanggui and join Zhuge Liang.
When Zhang Xi met Zhuge Liang for the first time, he asked Zhuge Liang a question.
"This time the Qiang people are defeated, is it possible that the Prime Minister wants to "attack the heart first"?!"
There was no way. Zhuge Liang personally led the troops to quell the rebellion. It is easy to think of Zhuge Liang's battle to quell Nanzhong in history.
In this time and space, the Nanzhong Rebellion had occurred seven or eight years earlier. Liu Bei was still alive and well at that time, and all the famous civil servants and generals were there. Naturally, there was no need for Zhuge Liang to personally lead the troops in the battle. Zhang Xi took care of this matter instead of Zhuge Liang. Done.
But now, the Qiang people are in rebellion, but Zhuge Liang has put down his political affairs and personally led the troops to put down the rebellion. Zhang Xi will definitely associate this matter with the Nanzhong Rebellion in history.
The most important thing for Zhuge Liang to put down the Nanzhong rebellion was to "attack the heart first."
This is not a bad strategy; on the contrary, it is the normal way of counterinsurgency.
Indeed, after quelling the rebellion, how to regain the hearts of the local Hu people and make the Qiang people stable in the short term and not bring trouble to one party is of great importance to today's Han Dynasty.
After all, the Han Dynasty will eventually go on the Northern Expedition, and cannot leave such an unstable factor behind.
But Zhang Xi is not sure whether Zhuge Liang will also play "seven captures and seven verticals" in the northwest region like in the novel. There is no time for this at the moment.
This Qiang rebellion was too large in scale and had a very bad impact. It had to be suppressed with thunderous means to make the Qiang people aware of their fear. Only then could the Qiang people be appeased and win their hearts.
"Seven captures and seven verticals" is really a grind.
Another thing is that the Qiang rebellion is different from the historical Nanzhong rebellion.
Today's Qiang rebellion is led by an alliance of five Qiang tribes. There is no figure like Meng Huo who can "submit all Han and barbarians". Even if you want to engage in "seven captures and seven verticals", there is no way. Cast target.
Therefore, after Zhang Xi arrived at Shanggui, the first thing he did was to find Zhuge Liang to confirm the basic policy of countering the rebellion.
Zhang Xi can understand these issues, how could Zhuge Liang not understand them.
This time to quell the Qiang rebellion, Zhuge Liang did have the idea of winning over the Qiang people, but as a strategy to pacify the Qiang, he still chose a quick victory.
Different situations naturally require different ways of coping. If Zhuge Liang couldn't even do this, he wouldn't be Zhuge Liang.
Not to mention, this time Zhuge Liang sent troops, and he also brought Pang Tong as his military advisor. Pang Tong was not Ma Su. He had a very vicious vision, and with Pang Tong's status, Zhuge Liang could not ignore Pang Tong's suggestions.
Therefore, when Zhang Xi asked, Zhuge Liang explained the general policy of countering the rebellion.
The first step is to seize the time before the heavy snow falls in Qinzhou to rescue the siege of Tianshui County and stabilize the hearts of the Han people.
The second step is to formulate strategic directions based on northwest climate factors.
If the roads in Qinzhou are still blocked by heavy snow this year and it is not suitable for fighting, we will suspend the rest in Tianshui County and wait until spring to recover the remaining three counties to intimidate the Qiang settlements.
If the weather in Qinzhou is not cold this year, or there is not much snow, then attack immediately, seek out the enemy for battle, strive to defeat the main force of the Qiang people, and put down the Qiang rebellion as soon as possible.
The third step is to leave suitable officials to govern the place, appease the Qiang people, and prevent the Qiang people from causing chaos again.
In short, fight first, treat later, and fight quickly! ! !
(End of chapter)
