Yang Qing and Zhuge Liang discussed the strategy of regaining Liangzhou for more than half an hour. It was not until the guards brought lunch that they ended the discussion.
"I didn't expect that the general who recaptured Liangzhou was really Wei Yan?"
After having lunch at Zhuge Liang's place, Yang Qing said goodbye and left. As he walked towards the Xikuoyuan where he lived, he was thinking about the details of the conversation just now.
Zhuge Liang had just revealed to him that Wei Yan would be the general who would conquer Liangzhou in the future. In fact, this was what he meant. Wei Yan, the governor of Liangzhou, was still a distant leader. If he wanted to turn the remote leader into an actual position, he should be the one to do it.
But when Yang Qing thought that he, the incoming governor of Yongzhou, would cooperate with Wei Yan to regain Liangzhou, he had a headache. Wei Yan had always been domineering, and he had already experienced this when he was in Hanzhong.
Although the relationship between the two improved later, Yang Qing really didn't like Wei Yan's arrogant temperament. He originally thought that he could turn a blind eye to this person after returning to Hanzhong, but unexpectedly he still had to work with him in Longyou. .
Moreover, Longyou is adjacent to Liangzhou, so his contacts with Wei Yan will be indispensable in the future.
"That's all, let's talk about the future later. We've been discussing things all morning, and it's time to take a good nap." Yang Qing lay on the bed as soon as he returned to the room. He was really tired after thinking for a long time.
While Zhuge Liang and others were still calming the people in Longyou, the war to regain Wudu and Yinping counties had begun.
Taking advantage of the great victory of the Han army at Longyou, Ma Dai ordered the Wei officials in the two counties to immediately open the city and surrender. At the same time, he also ordered all the Qiang and Di tribes to raise their troops and return to the Han.
Ma Dai has been operating in Wudu for many years. Now after listening to his order, a group of Qiang Di tribes who had secretly returned to the Han Dynasty responded one after another. The Baima Di people, under the leadership of their leader Yang Wanwan, had already merged with Ma Dai to rule Wudu County. The surrounding area is so tight that there is no way to pass through it.
As for other tribes, such as the Lei family from Yinping and the Fu family from Wudu, they also abandoned their original wait-and-see attitude and received Ma Dai's military order to launch troops to attack nearby cities.
However, within a few days, five of the six county towns under Wudu County had surrendered, and only County Bian was still stubbornly resisting.
As for Yinping County, there are also good news. Thanks to the joint operations of a thousand Han troops led by Ma Dai's deputy general Ma Zhen and the Lei family and other Qiang and Di tribes, the only two counties in this county - Yinping County and Pingguang County - have been recovered. county.
All the officers and soldiers of Cao Wei either surrendered or were killed. Only the Yinping County Sheriff and a few troops managed to escape to Qiangduan's territory.
The strong end is the Yinping Di marshal who is as famous as Lei Ding. This man has always been close to Cao Wei. During the Battle of Hanzhong, he sided with Cao Cao and sent troops to help Cao Xiu. Cao Hong fought with Zhang Fei and Ma Chao, and later killed the Han general. Wu Lan.
This person knew very well that his pro-Wei position for many years would not be tolerated by Ji Han, and even if he took the initiative to join the Han army, he would not be able to reap the rewards, so he decided to go all the way to the dark side, accepted the fleeing Wei army, and gathered his tribesmen together. Stick to the stronghold and confront Ma Zhen, Lei Ding and others.
At the foot of Shimoben Castle, war drums thundered and the sound of killing shook the sky. The sergeants carried ladders and pushed carts and rushed forward despite the rain of arrows.
This was the third day of the Han army's attack on the city. After the continuous attacks in the previous two days, Xiabian City was already crumbling. Ma Dai believed that the city could be broken in one day at the earliest and in three days at the slowest.
The reason why Ma Dai was so confident was because the strength gap between the enemy and ourselves was too big. Not to mention that Xiabian was not a tall and fortified city. In terms of military strength alone, the Han army was several times that of the Wei army.
Currently, in addition to more than 2,000 officers and soldiers under Ma Dai, there are also more than 6,000 Qiang and Di tribe soldiers headed by the Yang family and the Fu family. The garrison in the city plus the levied civilians are only more than 3,000 people. The strength of the Han army was almost three times that of the Wei army.
In addition, the Wei army in the city had been besieged by Ma Dai for nearly three months, with insufficient food and grass and a sharp decline in morale. They also learned that Longyou was defeated and there were no reinforcements. Under such a desperate situation, there was not much fighting spirit.
Only because Song Gang, the governor of Wudu County, insisted on swearing allegiance to Cao Wei to the death, the soldiers and the people were afraid of his former power, so they reluctantly obeyed the order and resisted.
However, after two days, the Wei army and the people suffered many casualties. The officials and people in the city were complaining, and many large households had secretly sent envoys out of the city to communicate with the Han army.
Ma Dai accepted them one by one, and ordered the guards in the middle of the city to make careful contacts, preparing to cooperate internally and externally to seize the city in one fell swoop.
In the evening, the powerful families of Tonghan and the Youwei launched an attack and occupied the southern city gate in one fell swoop. The well-prepared Han army immediately attacked the city with the support of the rebels. Song Gang and others were in a hurry and were unable to resist, so they had to attack from the east. Escape through the door.
Seeing that the county guards were all gone, all the Wei troops lost their will to fight. They threw away their weapons and asked the Han troops to surrender. Only a few people were still fighting in the streets and alleys. By the early morning of the next day, the enemies in the city had been completely eliminated by the Han army, and Ma Dai immediately went out to calm the people and comfort them.
In the afternoon, Yang Wanwan, the leader of the Baima clan who was ordered to hunt down Song Gang and others, fulfilled his mission and successfully brought back Song Gang's head. Among the hundreds of Wei troops who abandoned the city and fled, only a dozen of them escaped by chance. Either beheaded or captured.
At this point, the entire Wudu County was recovered by the Han army, and Ma Dai quickly sent people to Shanggui to report the victory to Zhuge Liang.
"Prime Minister, General Ma Dai has good news."
On this day, Yang Qing, Yang Yi, and Ma Di were reporting to Zhuge Liang the accounting status of grain and fields in Longyou. Hu Ji suddenly walked in with a scroll of bamboo slips in his hand to report.
Zhuge Liang quickly took the official document and read it. After a moment, he laughed loudly and said, "Okay, Zhonghua has recovered the two counties of Wudu and Yinping. Except for the strong bandit who is still resisting the king's division, all the officials, people and tribes in the two counties have been recovered." They all surrendered, and our Han Dynasty gained eight more cities and a population of more than 100,000."
After saying that, he handed over the good news: "You guys should take a look too."
"Prime Minister, now that Wudu Yinping has been recovered, the passage between Hanzhong and Longyou is no longer blocked. It's really gratifying." Yang Qing was the first to read it and said happily.
Zhuge Liang stroked his beard and smiled and said: "Yes, with Longyou, the two counties of Wudu and Yinping will fall into our hands sooner or later. But I didn't expect Zhonghua and the others to move so fast. It seems that the hard work of the past few years has not been in vain. "
"Prime Minister, there are more than ten tribes and families in the two counties that responded to our army, which shows that the Qiang and Di people have the heart of the Han Dynasty. Their contribution to the recovery of the two counties this time is also not small, and they must be rewarded to show their kindness.
In this way, the Qiang and Hu people in Liangzhou will definitely be inspired by this and follow suit, and our army will be able to gain help in regaining Liangzhou in the future. Yang Yi said.
Before Zhuge Liang could answer, Ma Su, who had read the good news, also agreed: "Yes, this example can be used to show the world and show the court's intention to appease all ethnic groups. This can win the hearts of the Qiang and Hu people in the north."
"Well, these tribes who are loyal to the Han Dynasty must be generously rewarded. When I return to the court, I will report to the emperor to ask for merit for them." Zhuge Liang said: "As for those tribes who surrender to Cao Wei, we must also severely attack and suppress and support them. Only by applying kindness and power at the same time can the effect be achieved for all generations."
After a pause, he looked at Yang Qing and the others and said, "If we take Liangzhou or even the Western Regions in the future, we will have to deal with more foreign races. You must keep this method in mind."
"I sincerely follow the instructions of the Prime Minister." The three of them responded in unison.
Two days later, another good news reached Shanggui, which made everyone even more happy. It turned out that Wu Yi finally captured Linjing and Jingyin counties after more than half a month of fighting, and included the entire Anding County into Ji Han's territory.
At this point, all the wars in the Northern Expedition of the Han army have basically ended, and the funeral arrangements in Longyou and other places have been properly arranged. Zhuge Liang officially announced that the Northern Expedition was over and would return to the court soon.
