The leaders of the five Qiang tribes didn't want to do this either. The situation was really no match for others.
Although in the game, the IQs of barbarian leaders are rarely in double digits, in reality, no one is a fool who can hold the power of a tribe and decide the life and death of everyone in the tribe.
They may be arrogant and arrogant, but they are not idiots.
Who doesn't know how powerful the Han people are in fighting with the help of cities? Who doesn't know that the Han people have thick armor and sharp weapons that the barbarians can't compare with.
To go and fight a city offensive and defensive battle with the Han people is simply to compare one's own shortcomings with the Han people's strengths. No matter how stupid a tribal leader is, he cannot do such a heartless thing.
But now, the leader of the five Qiang people has really done this stupid thing.
There is no way, there are too many of them, and they are getting more and more!
The initial and most essential reason for the Qiang rebellion this time was that no one could survive anymore and had to stand up and fight to find a way to survive.
But no one expected that the rebellion would be so big this time, and that the Han reinforcements would come so quickly.
As the rebellion got bigger, not only the surrounding small Qiang tribes came to seek refuge, but also some tribes of Di and Xianbei people came to seek refuge.
In the northwest of these years, after four or five years of severe cold and heavy snow, there were many barbarians who could not survive.
In the past two years, the Qiang people and Ma Chao helped take care of them, and at least they could get some relief from the Han court. However, the Xianbei people and Di people did not have this treatment. Their lives were even worse than the Qiang people.
That is to say, these Xianbei and Di tribes are too small and too scattered among themselves, so they really dare not rebel.
The Qiang people could still try to find a way to survive if they rebelled, but if they rebelled, it would be pure death.
Originally, these small tribes were already in despair, but who knew that the Qiang people's rebellion would become so loud. When these small tribes of Hu people saw this, they thought they would not be crazy if they didn't take the opportunity to get some benefits and help their people survive the winter. Lost? !
Although the revenge of the Han people will be terrible, if you don't take advantage now, you won't be able to wait for the day when the Han people take revenge.
In this way, when the leaders of the five Qiang tribes gathered their tribesmen, they found that the number of people from each tribe who obeyed his command had increased by half.
The total number of tribesmen in the five tribes originally numbered only about 100,000, but now the number has grown to 150,000 or 60,000. They are now in a dilemma.
If they continue to occupy Qinzhou and cause rebellion, the food they collect is simply not enough for these 150,000 to 60,000 people to survive this winter. If they retreat back to the grassland, the food will not be enough.
Therefore, those who are now eager to fight have become Qiang coalition forces.
Only by conquering Tianshui County and plundering the grain reserves in Tianshui County can the Qiang coalition have a chance of survival.
After all, among the four counties in Qinzhou, Tianshui County is the richest and has the most grain reserves. This is the only hope for the Qiang coalition.
This was the official reason why the Qiang coalition forces suddenly gathered together and began a large-scale attack on Ji County.
Yes, official reasons were just an excuse to fool the small and medium-sized Qiang tribes and incite them to fight the Han people.
Privately, the real reason is that the leaders of the five major Qiang tribes united and played a borrowed knife game to kill people.
The leaders of the five tribes of the Qiang people rebelled. At the beginning, their purpose was just to survive. They did not want to freeze to death and starve to death.
But as the rebellion gained momentum, the ambitions of the leaders of the five Qiang tribes were aroused.
So many Qiang and Hu tribes responded, giving them the idea of restoring the glory of their ancestors.
However, no one who can be the leader of the five Qiang tribes is a fool. They know very well that the Han people are not easy to mess with.
Previously, they relied on the advantage of pre-emption to capture three counties in Qinzhou in one fell swoop. However, as the reinforcements of the Han Dynasty arrived in Tianshui and the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty personally led the troops, the leaders of the five Qiang tribes immediately understood that this matter was not going to be easy.
Although the rebellion is huge now, except for the five Qiang tribes, there are not many Hu tribes with real fighting capacity. If they continue to fight like this, they will suffer the most in the end.
Therefore, the leaders of the five Qiang tribes did not have high hopes for this attack on Ji County.
It would be best if we can defeat them as before. The Qiang people have already established a strong momentum. From now on, whether they are fighting against the big men or surrendering and seeking internal support, they will have some breathing space.
But if they fail to defeat them, the leaders of the five Qiang tribes also have other plans.
After this rebellion, a large number of small and medium-sized tribes came to join the rebellion. Almost most of the Qiang and Hu tribes in the northwest region participated.
Although these small and medium-sized tribes are all poor, they still have some assets, and the most important thing is that the number is really large. If you add them up, the total number of cattle and sheep of these small and medium-sized tribes is not a small amount. .
If they really can't defeat the Han people and can annex the women, children, cattle and sheep of these small and medium-sized tribes, and expand the size of their original tribe, then this winter will not really be unbearable.
If we wait until spring, we can shift the responsibility to these small and medium-sized tribes and create two scapegoats to plead guilty to the emperor of the Han Dynasty. If you come and become a minister or something, you can also get some rewards.
In this way, you can not only strengthen your tribe, but also get rid of the charge of being the mastermind of this rebellion. Isn't it the best of both worlds?
In this way, the leaders of the five Qiang tribes gathered together, discussed in a jittery manner for a long time, and unanimously decided to send troops to Tianshui County to fight to the death with the Han people.
It was true that the troops were sent to Tianshui County, but the ones who fought to the death were not the five Qiang tribes, but the small and medium-sized tribes who came to seek refuge with them.
Use the hands of the Han people to consume the men of these small and medium-sized tribes, and wait until these tribes suffer heavy losses. According to the rules on the grassland, the five major Qiang tribes can legitimately annex them, and still leave a good reputation for taking care of women and children.
Anyway, if you want to hate, just hate the Han people. Your husbands and fathers were killed by those Han people.
No matter how you think about it, the five major Qiang tribes will not suffer.
In this way, under the leadership of the five major Qiang tribes, the Qiang and Hu coalition forces went straight to Tianshui County.
Zhuge Liang, on his side, learned that the Qiang people did not need to be searched by the Han army and actually came to die. He was not polite and began to formulate a battle plan on the spot.
If you are willing to travel thousands of miles to die, then I will definitely be willing to bury you.
The first step is to release the defense of Xi County and open the way for these Qiang people to enter Tianshui County.
The second step was to send Zhang Xi to lead 5,000 soldiers and take a detour. After the main force of the Qiang people passed through Xi County, they would choose an opportunity to reoccupy Xi County and cut off the Qiang people's retreat route.
In the third step, Pang De led three thousand cavalry to hide outside. After the Qiang people were defeated, they chose to follow and pursue them.
In the fourth step, Zhuge Liang personally took command of Jixian and led two generals, Ma Dai and Wu Yi, to fight the main force of the Qiang in Jixian.
The strategy is really not that complicated. It is based on confidence in the combat power of the Han army. To deal with these Qiang people, there is really no need to set up complicated tactics. The simpler, the more effective.
The only thing to note is that there are up to 30% of the rangers in these Qiang and Hu coalition forces. It is hard to say how effective these rangers are in combat, but they are very good at escaping. Therefore, it is impossible to completely annihilate these Qiang people. Kill as much as possible.
As for the lethality, it depends on whether Zhang Xi can block Xi County and the lethality of Pound's three thousand assault cavalry.
In this way, the battle plan was set, and each unit implemented it according to the plan, waiting for the Qiang people to arrive on their own.
Zhuge Liang was not kept waiting for too long. In just seven or eight days, the leading troops of the Qiang people had already arrived at the foot of Ji County.
At this time, Zhang Xi had already set off for two days and took a detour to go straight to Xi County.
Zhang Xi is not worried about how Zhuge Liang will fight in the offensive and defensive battle at the foot of Ji County. What Zhang Xi is most worried about now is that it has started to snow in Tianshui County.
And it's snowing heavily.
This kind of weather is already very unsuitable for sending troops to fight, but Zhang Xi's mission is not yet completed.
In fact, Zhang Xi had already moved to the vicinity of Xi County two days ago, but he did not immediately launch an attack to occupy Xi County.
It's not that the Qiang people are well-defended. In fact, this group of Qiang people has no concept of defending the city.
Their biggest concept of defending the city is to close the city gate at night. They don't even have the concept of sending troops to check in and out of the west county gate.
Such a laxly defended city can be captured at any time.
The reason why Zhang Xi did not attack the city was because there were too many Qiang people.
This road, which stretches for more than ten kilometers, is full of barbarians. Some are Qiang people and some are Xianbei people. They have been heading towards Hebei County, and they are almost bringing their families with them, including men, women, old and young. In a short period of time, You can't even see where the tail is.
Really, in this marching state, Zhang Xi is ready to launch a surprise attack. This thing is sure to hit every time.
But Zhang Xi was still calm-headed and knew that his mission was to block the retreat path of the Qiang people.
Calculating the time, the leading troops of the Qiang people may have arrived in Ji County by this time, but the follow-up troops still cannot see the end. Zhang Xi plans to wait for a few days until all the Hu troops pass through Xi County. , and then launched an siege.
In this way, all the barbarians can be locked up on the road from Xi County to Ji County.
The traffic conditions in this era are like this. As long as the road is blocked, even if you escape for your life, bypass the city and escape into the wilderness, it is unknown whether you will survive in the end.
The cavalry with horses are better off, but the Qiang people without horses are basically waiting for death in this kind of winter.
However, Zhang Xi did not wait for the end of the Hu people's team, but waited for the third snowfall of this year in Tianshui County.
Moreover, the snow is getting heavier and heavier, and it does not stop at night.
Zhang Xi immediately knew that he could not wait any longer.
With this amount of snow, the entire land will be completely white by the next day. If we wait another day, the snow may be so heavy that it will affect walking. By then, it will definitely be too late to launch an siege.
Another thing, with such heavy snow, Zhang Xi did not believe that the Ji County side could continue to fight. It was very likely that the Qiang people had already chosen to retreat at this time. If he did not block the retreat to Xi County, it would be too late.
Therefore, Zhang Xi had to launch a surprise attack on the city early the next morning despite the wind and snow.
It was not a difficult task. Zhang Xi just sent a team of 100 people, pretending to be a small tribe of Di people, and easily approached the city gate. Before the Qiang people guarding the city could react, they killed and captured the city gate.
The ensuing battle to seize the city, although some losses were incurred, did not take long. In only half a morning, the barbarians in Xi County were dispersed and the four gates of Xi County were regained control.
Then Zhang Xi ordered the four city gates to be closed, the snow on the top of the city to be cleared, bows and crossbows prepared, ready for battle at any time, and the city began to be defended.
Facts have proved that Zhang Xi's decision was quite timely. In the afternoon of that day, a group of Qiang Rangers, numbering about seven to eight hundred people, followed by more than a thousand Qiang tribesmen, appeared outside the west county city.
At this time, the Qiang leader did not seem to realize that Xi County had been occupied by Zhang Xi. He led a large group of people close to the city wall without any precautions. He stood under the city tower and shouted, asking Zhang Xi to open the door quickly and let their troops go. Everyone passed.
As a result, Zhang Xi was not polite. After a wave of hard bows and crossbows, the Qiang leader was hit by seven or eight arrows on the spot and saw that he would not survive.
Only half of the seven to eight hundred rangers were left, and the Qiang tribe suffered heavy losses. After they escaped from the range of the arrows, only three of them were left.
What's even worse is that these Qiang people run so fast that they can't even carry food on some carriages and tents on the carriages. Even if they escape, it's really hard to say whether they can survive at night. That’s for sure.
Zhang Xi had no time to sympathize with them.
The Qiang people this time were not clear-headed and dared to get so close to the city wall. But the Qiang people who come next time will definitely not be so easy to deal with.
Even if the Qiang people are not good at attacking cities, they are still large in number. If more than 100,000 Qiang people flock to Xixian together, there will still be pressure.
Therefore, Zhang Xi really didn't sleep all night, always on guard against the possible arrival of this Qiang man.
It wasn't until the next morning that Zhang Xi finally saw a flurry of snowflakes on the horizon. It was obvious that they were snowflakes brought up by the running cavalry.
A large number of cavalry arrived.
The Qiang people's large defeated troops finally arrived.
(End of chapter)
