Since the Later Han Dynasty, the Western Qiang tribes scattered in the Hehuang area have often clashed with the Han people in Liangzhou. At that time, the local officials sent to Liangzhou by the imperial court were greedy for military glory and often treated the Western Qiang with cruel and harsh methods. Resistances from various tribes of Xiqiang emerged one after another.
Therefore, the Qiang plague also plagued the Later Han Dynasty for more than a hundred years. These Western Qiang people scattered in the Hehuang area gradually replaced the Northern Xiongnu and became the first foreign invasion of the Later Han Dynasty.
They continued to infringe border counties and even went deep into the interior, resulting in the Guanlong area often being in the flames of war. The people's livelihood in Yongliang Prefecture was increasingly declining, and the Later Han Dynasty was burdened with a serious financial burden.
Although during the reign of Emperor Huan, the Qiang people in Liangzhou lost tens of thousands of people under the successive attacks of Duan Jiong, Huangfu Gui, and Zhang Huan in Sanming County of Liangzhou, and the Qiang rebellion that lasted for more than a hundred years was finally coming to an end.
However, the strength of the Later Han Dynasty was also exhausted, and the era of great chaos in the world came. The heroes rose up and the world was shaken. If the Han Dynasty had not given birth to the Zhaolie Emperor Liu Bei, I am afraid that it would have perished at this time. It can be seen that the decline of the Han Dynasty is really related to the centuries-old Qiang Dynasty. There is no way to get rid of the relationship.
Although the various tribes of the Western Qiang are no longer as prosperous as they were in the past, there are still many Qiang tribes living in Liangzhou at this time. For example, the Xianling Qiang live in Xihai and other places, the Lejie Qiang and Dangjian Qiang live scattered in Jincheng and Zhangye, and the Shaodang Qiang They are entrenched in the Xiping County area. In addition, there are small tribes such as the Fengyang Qiang and the Laojie Qiang who travel between nomadic counties.
This shows that after Emperor Huan, the Qiang tribes were still a force that should not be underestimated in Liangzhou. In fact, Qiang rebellions still occurred from time to time in the past thirty years, but the scale was not as good as before.
Moreover, the Qiang rebellion in recent years has a completely different characteristic from the past, that is, the Qiang rebellion at this time was not caused by the Qiang people themselves, but was often deliberately provoked by Han warlords.
For example, Dong Zhuo, Han Sui, Ma Teng and others often used the Qiang chaos to support the bandits, fight against the court, and plot evil. Therefore, the Qiang people tended to become thugs of the Han princes.
Of course, the Qiang people are not fools. They have their own plans for relying on the Han warlords. However, now that the Han people are powerful, most of the Qiang tribes still have to play the role of being driven.
Dayu Valley, located in Xiping County, is located in the upper reaches of Huangshui River. It has rich water and grass, and flocks of cattle and sheep. It has been the most coveted Feng Shui treasure land by the Qiang people in Liangzhou since the pre-Qin Dynasty.
As long as they occupy this territory with superior natural conditions, this Qiang tribe will definitely develop into the most powerful existence among the Qiang.
Currently occupying the Dayu Valley is the Shaodang Qiang. This tribe originally lived in the Dayun Valley north of the Yellow River for generations. At first, its population was small and its power was not strong. It was weaker than the Xianling Qiang and other tribes, so it was deeply affected by the Xianling and humble tribes. The bullying of powerful tribes such as Nan.
However, a turning point for the Shaodang Qiang came when Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty. At this time, Dian Liang, the father and son of the Shaodang Qiang king, was quite talented and had always been favored by various tribes.
They took the opportunity to unite with the affiliated tribes and other mixed Qiang who were also bullied by the two powerful tribes Xianling and Beinan. They secretly marched from Dayu Valley and suddenly launched an attack on Xianling and Beinan, defeating both tribes in one fell swoop.
This battle not only killed two tribes of Ding and no less than 3,000 people, but also plundered a large amount of livestock and property. More importantly, they successfully drove away the Xianling Qiang and occupied the middle area of Dayu, which is the area of Dayu Valley. Central Region.
From then on, the Shaodang Qiang began to become stronger, replacing the Xianling Qiang and becoming the number one force among the Qiang, until now.
Therefore, Ma Dai, who was ordered to secretly go to Liangzhou to appease the tribes, has been frequenting Dayu Valley these days. He knew that as long as he persuaded the Shaodang Qiang, he would be equivalent to swaying most of the Qiang tribes in Liangzhou.
At this moment, in the heavily guarded royal tent in Dayu Valley, Ma Dai was having secret talks with Shaodang Qiang King Hung He and his confidant general Shao Ge.
"Brother Hungry He, what do you think?" Ma Dai asked.
He had been at the Shaodang tribe for several days, during which time he had repeatedly treated Hungry He Xiao with benefits, kindness and power. However, the Qiang king always delayed and failed to make a decision. The day before yesterday, I said I would give it two final days of consideration, and today is the time to reply.
Ma Dai thought that Hungry He would be able to give a happy reply at this time, but he still hesitated and said: "This matter is very important. Please allow General Zhonghua to allow me to think about it for another two days."
"What, brother, are you teasing Yu? You have agreed on your answer today, how can you change it at will? You were not a person who broke your word before." Ma Dai said angrily after hearing this.
Hung He was known among the Qiang people for his promise to be worth a thousand dollars. When he heard Ma Dai accusing him of breaking his promise, his face turned red. However, thinking about the survival of the tribe, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and reply: "General Zhonghua, it's not that Hung He broke his promise. It's really true." Returning to Han is a matter of life and death for our clan.
Hung He is no longer the stupid young man who took pleasure in grudges. Now he is the head of the clan and cannot help but act cautiously. Therefore, I ask the general to forgive me and give me two more days. I will definitely give you a reply in two days. "
Of course Ma Dai could see that Hungry He had become more mature and diplomatic over the years. Back then, he accompanied his brother Ma Chao to visit the Shaodang tribe. At that time, Hungry He was still a teenager, impulsive, aggressive, and advocating force. He once launched a challenge to Ma Chao without realizing it.
In the end, he was easily defeated by Ma Chao, but from then on, Hung He deeply admired Ma Chao and regarded him as the god of war. He often followed Ma Chao into battles with Ma Dai, so the friendship between the two was quite deep.
Ma Dai sighed and said: "Well, I also know your difficulties, but what else is there to think about? Now that I am a big man occupying Longyou, Liangzhou will fall into my hands sooner or later. At this time, if your tribe does not return to the Han When will you wait? It should be noted that the icing on the cake is not as good as providing help when it is timely.
Besides, don’t you like Yizhou’s tea, Sichuan brocade and other products? If you want to obtain these things in large quantities, it is impossible not to submit to my big man.
When you return to the Han Dynasty, you will have the largest share among the tribes. I am the first to come to you because I have known you for many years. If I continue to be delayed, I will go to Midang, Zhiyuanduo and others. These people went. "
Before Hungry He could answer, Shao Ge interjected: "General Zhong Hua's words are too arbitrary. Although the Wei State suffered a great defeat, it still held the land of several states and its national power was still strong. Even if the Han Dynasty was temporarily If we occupy Liangzhou, how can we know that Wei will not come back in the future?"
The meaning of his words could not be more obvious. He was simply not optimistic about Ji Han's prospects and worried that he would suffer cruel revenge from Cao Wei in the future.
"Huh, that's nonsense. When we only had Yizhou, we were still able to compete with the puppet Wei. In the battle of Jieting, we defeated tens of thousands of its elite troops.
Now that we, a big man, have established a firm foothold in Longyou, we have many soldiers, generals, and sophisticated equipment. How can such a strong upward momentum not be the same as before?
If Er Shao's subordinates are afraid of the Wei thieves, just speak out and turn around and leave. I will never force you to do so. Ma Dai sank his face and said with a sneer.
Shao Ge heard this and said angrily: "Ma Dai, how dare you despise our people? How can we Qiang warriors be afraid of the Wei people? Don't think that you are the brother of General Shenwei Tian..."
"How dare you call General Zhong Hua by his name? You are really not big or small, why don't you quickly apologize to General Zhong Hua?" Seeing that Shao Ge was getting more and more rude as he spoke, Hung He quickly stopped him.
Shao Ge looked dissatisfied and turned his head away, pretending not to hear. Seeing this, Hung He slapped the table and shouted, "You don't even listen to what I said?"
Seeing that his king was really angry, Shao Ge stood up and bowed to Ma Dai and said, "General Zhonghua, for a certain moment, I was offended."
"General Zhonghua, this guy has this kind of temper. Please look at my face and forgive him this time." Hungry He also followed with a smile.
"That's all. If you dare to be rude next time, don't blame Ma for turning your back." Ma Dai waved his hand and said calmly.
"Thank you for your forgiveness, General."
Seeing that the matter was finally revealed, Hung He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and continued: "General Zhonghua's mind is indeed broader than the sky. I admire you. General, please show your mind again and allow me two days to think about it. I will definitely think about it in two days." Make a decision."
Ma Dai pondered undecided, thinking that the Shaodang Qiang was the most powerful among the Western Qiang, and he still had to try his best to fight for it. If he just turned his back and left, it would be of no use to the plan of recruiting the Qiang and Hu, so he replied: "That's fine, so-and-so I’ll give you two more days. If you still don’t get a reply after two days, don’t blame Ma for not remembering the friendship back then.”
"Thank you, General Zhonghua, for your tolerance. Don't worry, General. I will never delay him again in two days." Hung He said, clasping his fists.
Ma Dai returned to the big tent where he lived with a suspicious look on his face. He was a little confused about Hung He's performance today. Based on his understanding of Hung He, he should not be hesitant, let alone untrustworthy. generation.
So what was the reason for him to delay for another two days? Was it really for the sake of the lives of tens of thousands of people in the tribe? This shouldn't be the case. When did the Qiang people take human life so seriously? I've never seen them so afraid of death before?
"General, something is strange."
While Ma Dai was thinking hard and puzzled, his head of bodyguard Ma Cang suddenly came in to report.
