On March 17, the sixth year of Jianxing of the Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang bid farewell to the officials and people of Longyou and led the Northern Expedition army to return to Shu. Before leaving, he made careful arrangements for Longyou's political affairs and defense.
In order to prevent the Wei army from counterattack, Zhuge Liang left Wu Yi to lead his army to garrison Anding, and ordered Liao Hua's 4,000 men to garrison Guangwei. Wei Yan led 5,000 front troops to garrison Shanggui and Jicheng, and ordered Chen Shi to lead 1,000 left army governors. Three thousand surrendered troops under Gao Gang were stationed in Nan'an, while the remaining four thousand left troops were still stationed in Qishan.
In this way, the Han troops left behind in the four counties of Longyou and Anding, plus the troops who returned to the counties, numbered no less than 20,000, as well as generals such as Wei Yan, Wu Yi, and Liao Hua, which were enough to resist the Wei army invading from Guanzhong or Liangzhou.
However, according to the estimates of Zhuge Liang and others, the Wei army will not take the initiative to invade in the near future. Even if the Wei army inexplicably attacked in large numbers, the more than 20,000 Han troops occupying various dangerous passes would be enough to hold on until reinforcements from Hanzhong arrived, so Zhuge Liang was quite assured of Longyou's defense.
As for civil affairs, since Yang Qing and other Longyou officials have not yet been formally appointed, the political affairs of several counties except Longxi County are temporarily handled by generals from various places, such as Wu Yi in charge of Anding County affairs, Liao Hua in charge of Guangwei military affairs, Wei Yan He was in charge of Tianshui County Affairs and Chen Shi was in charge of Nan'an County Affairs.
Naturally, You Chu was in charge of political affairs in Longxi County. As for Nan'an County affairs, Su Jing, the new county magistrate, was asked to assist Chen Shi in handling matters.
Su Jing, the county magistrate of Lucheng, was the first Wei official from Longyou to surrender to the Han Dynasty during the Northern Expedition. Zhuge Liang naturally wanted to set him as an example, so he promoted him before his return to the court to inspire the scholars in Longyou. The desire to become an official.
Therefore, the troops returning to Hanzhong with Zhuge Liang this time included 5,000 front troops, 5,000 left troops from Gao Xiang, 6,000 rear troops from Yang Qing, and more than 15,000 central troops, for a total of 31,000 troops.
The reason why the strength of each army increased was due to the addition of surrendered troops. After more than half a month of efforts by Ma Su, the Han army collected a total of eight or nine thousand surrendered Wei troops, which greatly added some troops.
Of course, the military commanders also fiercely competed for the distribution of these surrendered troops. Yang Qing's rear army was selected first by Zhuge Liang because of its greatest contributions and losses.
Yang Qing was not polite and selected 3,000 sergeants who were skilled in archery from the surrendered troops to supplement the rear army. Now that the war was over, the rear army could only digest 3,000 surrendered troops at most.
As for the accompanying officials, in addition to Yang Qing and other old people, there are also Jiang Wei, Liang Xu, Yin Shang and others who have been demoted. These Longxi scholars who surrendered will go to Chengdu to meet the emperor to enhance their sense of belonging to the Han Dynasty.
After that, Zhuge Liang will decide whether they should stay or leave based on their talents and actual situation. He will either keep them in the court or send them back to Longyou as officials.
Of course, thousands of captives who were going to be stationed in Hanzhong to serve in the fields were also accompanied by those returning south. These days, Tianma Su basically disposed of more than 10,000 captives according to the method proposed by Yang Qing that day.
Although the Han army only recruited four to five thousand prisoners, they did not waste their manpower on the remaining prisoners. In addition to returning a few only sons to Cao Wei, most of the prisoners were scattered and assigned to serve in various places. .
Fortunately, they were saved from death and had the hope of regaining their freedom. Most of the prisoners honestly accepted the Han army's treatment. Therefore, the prisoners stayed on their own terms and did not cause any trouble along the way.
When they arrived at Dexiabian, Ma Dai and others were already waiting ten miles outside the city. After traveling for days, everyone was a little tired, so Zhuge Liang decided to stay in Xiaben and prepare to rest for two days before setting off. He also learned about the current situation of Yinping County in Wudu.
Zhuge Liang asked the army to camp outside the city, and he, Yang Qing and others led their guards into the city to rest.
"Prime Minister, this is Yang Wanwan, the powerful commander of the Baima Di tribe. You have met him before." In the Wudu Governor's Mansion, Ma Dai led a group of Qiang and Di commanders to pay homage to Zhuge Liang.
"I have met the Prime Minister." Yang Wanwan quickly bowed and bowed.
Zhuge Liang smiled and nodded: "You don't need to be polite, General Yang. In the past few months, you and General Zhonghua have besieged the Wei people and guarded the grain roads. It can be said that you have worked hard and achieved great results."
"The Prime Minister is ridiculous. Our Baima Clan is just doing our little bit. Now that I, the great Han, has regained the counties of Longyou and killed tens of thousands of evil rebels, I have made great achievements in one fell swoop. The villains are really overjoyed." Yang Wanwan said respectfully. said.
Zhuge Liang said: "There is no need to be modest. After I return to Chengdu, I will report to the emperor to ask for your merits. The emperor will definitely give you a reward."
"Thank you so much, Prime Minister. I, the Baima clan, will do our best and be loyal to the Han Dynasty to repay the emperor's kindness." Yang Wanwan bowed and bowed again.
At this moment, he was extremely satisfied with his original decision. Their tribe was the first group to defect to Ji Han. Now that the Han Dynasty had won the Northern Expedition, the rewards they received would definitely be considerable.
Not to mention Zhuge Liang, even Ma Dai has promised him that from now on, the tribes in Yinping in Wudu will be led by their Baima clan, and their tribe's share in the tea-horse trade market will also be one of the best.
"Prime Minister, this is Fu Jian, a handsome man from Wudu Road." Ma Dai pointed at a man in his thirties who was the head of Yang Wanwan and introduced him.
"I have seen the Prime Minister." Fu Jian responded and came out to pay homage.
Zhuge Liang raised his empty hand and said: "Commander Fu Hao, please rise. You have also contributed a lot to the recovery of the two counties of Yinping, the military capital. The emperor will also give you a reward someday."
"Thank you, Prime Minister."
Unlike the Yang family, the Fu family did not stand firmly on Ji Han's side from the beginning. Their family had been playing both sides and betting on both sides for a long time. After Ji Han's Northern Expedition began, the Fu family also strictly maintained neutrality and did not offend any family.
It was not until Ji Han's victory at Longyou that his family completely surrendered to Ji Han's side and sent troops and food to help Ma Dai regain Wudu and Yinping counties.
Although the Fu family contributed a lot in the battle to regain the two counties, they joined the team too late after all, and the treatment they received was not comparable to that of the Yang family. However, they finally made remedial measures in time and got a share of the pie.
"Prime Minister, this is a powerful commander of the Qiang people in Qiang Dao..."
Then Ma Dai introduced other loyal Han tribes to Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang encouraged them all with gentle words. All the heroes were convinced and expressed their willingness to die for the Han.
After all the tribesmen retreated, Zhuge Liang asked Ma Dai: "Zhonghua, is the fake Wei Yinping County Sheriff still at the strong end?"
"Exactly." Ma Dai replied: "Qiang Duan refuses to obey Wang Hua and is a thief. He is unwilling to hand over a group of Wei officials. Our army is attacking his stronghold."
"Hmph, this strong man relied on Cao Cao to compete with the late emperor in the 24th year of Jian'an. I don't expect that after so many years, this man is still stubborn and follows the puppet Wei all the way to the dark side. In this case, this thief will be wiped out. , to shock those disobedient people."
"How is the war going now?" Zhuge Liang asked.
Ma Dai cupped his hands and said: "Qiang Duan's lair is deep in the mountains. The mountains are dangerous and there are many passes. Our army's repeated attacks only broke the two outer passes and failed to damage his roots. We are still in a confrontation."
"You can cut off this guy's food route. Once the food is eaten up, his tribe will not attack but will be in chaos." At this time, Ma Su on the side interjected.
Ma Dai shook his head slightly: "You don't know something. That strong man has been operating in Yinping for many years. He has stored a large amount of grain and grass in his old nest. According to detailed reports, the grain can last for three years. Therefore, even if the peripheral grain roads are cut off, there will not be much effect."
"So that's it. It seems that the only way out is a long-term siege." Ma Su said slightly reluctantly.
Zhuge Liang waved his hand and said with a smile: "There is no problem in a long-term siege. The two counties of Wudu Yinping are now in my hands. They are already isolated and helpless. If we delay, they will be defeated."
After a pause, he gently shook his feather fan and then said to Ma Dai: "The strong end can be attacked by deputy general Ma Zhen. What Zhonghua has to worry about now is Liangzhou."
"Yes, the general will understand." Ma Dai responded with clasped fists.
After giving Ma Dai a face-to-face briefing on how to recruit the Qianghu from Liangzhou, Zhuge Liang led his army to continue their journey. After seven or eight days of marching, they finally returned to Hanzhong.
Outside Mianyang City, officials, soldiers and civilians, led by Zhendong General Zhao Yun and Prime Minister's Office Chief Shi Xianglang, had been waiting for the triumphant army for a long time. Everyone's faces were filled with excitement and joy.
