Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 53: Death

Close to the hour of Hai.

The moonlight is just right.

The Qiang King and more than a thousand Qiang warriors finally finished roasting and eating the four cows and sheep, and drank their blood.

Four hundred sets of iron armor and six hundred sets of leather armor have now been rolled up and piled on more than thirty supply carts contributed by the city.

According to the Qiang King, this place is still seventy or eighty miles away from Fenshuiyi. Even if they only need to walk half the distance, they will be exhausted to death if they walk in armor. How can they launch a surprise attack?
Zhang Xiong, Li Duwei and others had nothing to say about the dozens of supply carts that had been stolen.

Even the armor has been loaned out, so why would you care about a few broken cars?

"If anyone among you can see at night, please send down dozens of them to push the carts for us!" The Qiang King's rough voice reached the top of the city wall.

On the city wall, Zhang Xiong was stunned. He felt that if things continued like this, all the hair in Jieting City would be plucked out by these Qiang people.

However, Captain Li was proactive and quickly selected dozens of soldiers responsible for night guard and ordered them to go down the city to push the cart for the Qiang King.

The soldiers looked hesitant.

"Captain, if they are really the rebel Qiang people who joined the rebellion as Zhang Zhizhi said, wouldn't we be slaughtered with so few people?"

"What time is it and you're still talking about rebelling against the Qiang?!
"If I were a rebel, I would have captured you right outside the city... If I had, wouldn't you all surrender?!"

Captain Li lowered his voice and cursed, hating only that Zhang He's son for misleading the people and destroying the united front of the Wei and Qiang people against the Han.

"Captain Li is right. You will only help the Qiang people push their carts.

"If they intend to attack at night, they will certainly send scouts ahead to observe. If they are ten miles away from the Shu invaders, they will probably abandon their chariots and armor. Then you can just find a hillside to hide and wait and see."

After spending half a day in close proximity with the Qiang people, witnessing their greedy habits, and not being caught by their "capture the leader first" strategy, Zhang Xiong's doubts were basically dispelled.

Hearing what Lian Zhang Xiong said, the military commander who was named to leave the city reluctantly dispelled his doubts and led more than 50 elite Wei soldiers down the city.

Not long after, more than a thousand Qiang warriors and the elite Wei soldiers responsible for pushing the carts walked eastward in the moonlight. After two quarters of an hour, they completely disappeared from everyone's sight.

...

...

A new day.

The Yin hour has passed.

West of Fenshui Post Station was Longguan during the Qin Dynasty.

More than a hundred soldiers kept watch against the ruined wall.

"Central Military Inspector, someone is coming!" A Tiger Guard standing on a high place spoke first.

Everyone looked carefully but saw nothing.

Central Military Inspector Guan Xing quickly climbed onto the platform and looked west.

Only a small flickering flame suddenly appeared in the dark night.

Getting closer.

When the firelight was more than thirty steps away from him, he finally saw the person clearly and strode forward.

"An Guo!" The young general who came with a torch also saw Guan Xing clearly and shouted.

"Hun Yi, how's it going?!" Guan Xing's face was filled with anticipation. "Have you convinced Anding and Yang Tiao? Have you entered Jieting yet?"

Due to the long distance between the north and the south, communication was cut off. Since Zhao Tong left with a hundred cavalrymen, their group of nearly a thousand Tiger Guards had no idea whether Zhao Tong had successfully made friends with Yang Tiao, nor whether he had deceived Jieting.

However, before Zhao Tong could reply, he suddenly frowned again: "What's with the scar on your face?"

There was a large blood scar on Zhao Tong's face that was slightly scabbed, extending from his chin to his cheek.

From the marks on it, one could tell at a glance that it had been severely whipped by a horsewhip.

"It's okay." Zhao Tong said indifferently.

"That Qiang noble, Yang Tiao, was quite straightforward. Upon hearing that Guanzhong had been captured by the Han and Cao Zhen had been killed, he immediately led several thousand Qiang people and brought food and fodder with him to follow me without a word.

"Just as Your Majesty predicted, Jieting City is already well prepared. The city gates are closed and there are even some kind of entry pass.

"Fortunately, we have a contingency plan, otherwise we wouldn't be able to trick them into opening the city gate."

Guan Xing nodded thoughtfully: "How many people are there in Jieting?"

"Including civilians and auxiliary soldiers, there are about two to three thousand people, which is about the same as expected." Zhao Tong said.

"But they were indeed short of food and men, and they certainly didn't know Cao Zhen had been beheaded.

"When they discovered that tens of thousands of my troops had already crossed the mountains and entered Long, and that the Qiang King was leaving with reinforcements and food supplies, they immediately chased after him to try to stop him."

At this point, Zhao Tong and Guan Xing looked at each other and smiled.

In fact, it was not a large army that entered Long. The plank road in the valley was cut off, and it was too difficult for the small boat to go downstream and then upstream. Only more than a thousand people could be crossed out of the valley in one day.

The tens of thousands of people at Fenshuiyi behind were just Fu Qian and Feng Hu leading three to four thousand soldiers and escorting twenty thousand Xiegu civilians, who were just bluffing.

Fortunately, the area west of Meiwu is now owned by the Han Dynasty. Even the famous Chencang City surrendered the day before yesterday.

There was no way out. Half of the garrison soldiers and laborers who were originally farming in Chencang were taken to Longyou by Zhang He, and the other half were taken to the Xieshui camp by Cao Zhen.

Even Deng Ai, the Dian Nong of Chencang, was captured.

There are only a few hundred soldiers left on the garrison. What else can we do if we don’t surrender?
Therefore, although the Han Dynasty had few soldiers in Guanzhong, they were able to run rampant west of Meiwu for a while.

The only thing to worry about is Zhang He's attack on Long.

But no signs have been found yet.

"If we can't trick them into the city, then we can only intercept the reinforcements coming from Tianshui." Guan Xing said.

Zhang He and Guo Huai were far away in Wudu, so it was impossible for a large army to come to support them from Tianshui.

If they fail to trick their way into the city, this group of troops will join Yang Tiao's several thousand men and march west of Jieting to completely block the Tianshui reinforcements.

Then Feng Hu, Fu Qian and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians blocked the city, preparing siege equipment and waiting for the army to go up to Long.

In short, Jieting must be taken.

It just might be a little difficult.

"Yang Tiao led more than a thousand Qiang warriors to flee eastward overnight. They should be seven or eight miles away now, and there are also dozens of Wei bandits who came with them." Zhao Tong said.

"He really followed me?" Guan Xing frowned.

"So, the defenders of Jieting City are still on guard?"

Zhao Tong shook his head and smiled, "It was the Qiang King who called them down, saying that he wanted them to help push the baggage cart."

Guan Xing suddenly realized:

"Alright, let those Wei bandits be witnesses, and you go back and tell the Qiang King that we will start a serious fight later.

"But how will we distinguish between the Wei invaders and the Qiang people?"

Zhao Tong said, "The Wei invaders have been pushing the baggage carts for half the night and must be very tired. They probably won't attack us.

"If you see violent fighting, just assume it's the Wei invaders.

"Nighttime fighting is so chaotic, and the civilians transporting the food are clueless. If a fight really breaks out, it's inevitable that a few bodies will be left behind."

In fact, at this point, there were only a handful of Qiang warriors who knew what would happen tonight, and they were all Yang Tiao's confidants.

By then, the news would have been known in a hurry, and it would have been difficult for both sides to convey their military orders. Moreover, it was a chaotic battle at night, so how could we expect everyone to obey orders and not hurt anyone?
If a night battle occurs, the civilians will not be able to see anything and will inevitably panic and flee. It is impossible for there to be no casualties.

Therefore, even if you know that the other party is your own, you still have to be careful and cautious when a fight breaks out to avoid causing more casualties.

Zhao Tong returned west.

An hour passed.

Mao Shi.

The more than 50 elite Wei soldiers who had been pushing the baggage carts all night were now exhausted.

Only after receiving the news that traces of the Shu bandits were discovered seven or eight miles ahead did they finally abandon their baggage and climb up the hill to lie in wait and see.

"Sima, look!" A sleepy Wei army guard suddenly perked up.

Upon hearing the sound, the rest of the Wei army who were lying on the grass to rest all sat up and looked towards the east.

I saw a barely perceptible light of fire appearing four or five miles to the east.

Another quarter of an hour passed.

The faint flame had developed into a long dragon composed of one or two thousand torches, winding and circling on the Longdi Avenue, slowly moving westward.

"Sima, they stopped to rest!" someone said in surprise.

Seeing this, the military commander thought of something: "The Shu invaders don't even have anyone scouting ahead.

"It seems that what the captain and the law enforcement officer said is true. They killed the messenger angel, thinking that we haven't received the news of Guanzhong's defeat yet!"

After a while, most of the thousands of torches on the road were extinguished, and only torches were left near the front and rear Han troops responsible for guarding the road.

The mountain fog is getting thicker.

The sky is bright.

The more than fifty elite Wei troops lurking here were all alert.

For the vast majority of the civilians and auxiliary soldiers transporting grain, this time was no different from night, and it was the best opportunity to launch a night attack.

"Look, it seems to be Qiang people!" This time it was the military commander who spoke first.

Everyone looked, but due to the poor lighting and the far distance, many people could not see anything.

But a few people also vaguely saw that some Qiang people seemed to be crouching and moving towards the Han army's food team.

The Long Road here is not wide, and the grain team disguised as Wei people is more than a mile long.

The Qiang people were heading right to the middle of the grain train, and they were obviously trying to cut it off!

"That's probably the Shu invaders' baggage cart. These Qiang barbarians aren't as stupid as we imagined!" The military commander was a little excited. Before he could finish his words, a burst of shouting and screaming suddenly rang out on the mountain road two or three miles away!
The strange calls of the Qiang people echoed in the mountains, and a fire started at the edge of the Han army's food team!
The entire grain team was thrown into chaos! Soon, torches were lit everywhere!

Under the firelight, these dozens of people finally saw that the group of Qiang people holding special scimitars seemed to be fighting with some Shu people!
In less than ten breaths, dense drumbeats suddenly resounded throughout the mountain path. Many figures began to gather in the direction of the drumbeats, quickly organizing themselves into a decent formation and fighting while retreating to the east.

"This group of Shu pirates is indeed elite!" The military commander was a little shocked.

The Han army's reaction speed was extremely fast, and the dense drumbeats that only the Han army could understand obviously played an excellent command and soothing role in the early morning when visibility was poor.

The armored soldiers in the front and rear of the Han army quickly rushed to the baggage storage in the middle, started fighting with the attacking Qiang people, and covered the Han army that had no time to wear armor to retreat eastward.

"Sima, should we go down?!"

A Wei soldier was excited and wanted to pick up a few heads. These would be military merits!

"Let's go!" The military commander was also excited. Although the distance was still two or three miles away, as long as they ran fast enough, they might be able to pick up one or two heads!
...

...

Longdi Mountain Road.

Three or four hundred Qiang warriors in iron armor blocked the narrow mountain path, stopped advancing, and began to retreat slowly.

The Han army stopped retreating under the cover of the same three or four hundred soldiers, and seemed to be intending to advance.

The two sides were more than a hundred steps apart.

"Quick, cut me with your sword." On the mountain road between the two armies, Yang Tiao patted his left arm.

"Then I withdrew with the baggage.

"Come on faster.

"Otherwise, when those Wei dogs catch up and investigate carefully, those bodies have been dead for several days, so there will still be loopholes."

"Why bother with this?" Zhao Tong was puzzled. "The Qiang King should just retreat. Let's press forward quickly. They won't have time to observe."

Yang Tiao said resolutely, "General Xiao Zhao, we have come this far in this drama, so what's wrong with using some self-torture tactics?

“If we fail to trick the Jieting city gates into opening, how many more casualties will the Han suffer in their attempt to capture the city?

"I whipped you yesterday without consulting you. I owe you my due today. Hurry!"

Zhao Tong hesitated again and again.

"Oh! What a shame for hesitating!" Yang Tiao was so disappointed with Zhao Tong that he snatched the horse-slaying sword from Zhao Tong's hand without warning and chopped it off his own arm without hesitation.

Fire flew everywhere, the sleeve armor shattered, and the sword penetrated several inches into the armor and flesh.

However, the man seemed unsatisfied. With gnashing teeth and eyes, he pushed down again with all his strength, wiped it, and pulled it out one last time.

Blood surged.

Zhao Tong was stunned and horrified.

"When I heard that the Han army was defeated at Jieting, I knew I was going to die." Yang Tiao's face turned pale and his whole body trembled violently.

"I never thought that the Emperor of the Han Dynasty would have such great power and courage. Not only did he lead the army in person, but he also killed Cao Zhen in battle!

"I never thought that the emperor would trust me, a Qiang Hu from Yangtiao, so much that he would entrust me with the important affairs of Jieting!

"If I cannot help the emperor seize Jieting and betray the trust he has placed in me, I, Yang Tiao, will not hesitate to die, let alone lose an arm!"

After saying this, the man handed the imperial sword back to Zhao Tong.

Soon, a horse came galloping from the west.

"Chief! Those Wei people are coming down the mountain!"

Yang Tiao nodded when he heard this, and turned around to command the Qiang warriors to retreat.

Zhao Tong didn't care about anything else after hearing this, and hurriedly ordered the Han soldiers to advance slowly, with the two sides maintaining a distance that was neither far nor close.

Many of the laborers who were transporting grain fled eastwards, passing through both sides of the battle formation, while hundreds of laborers who did not know what was going on fled indiscriminately towards the surrounding hills.

Hundreds of civilians were also being driven westward by Qiang warriors armed with knives, pushing baggage carts loaded with armor, weapons, and food.

When dozens of Wei soldiers ran two miles breathlessly at night and had not yet reached the battlefield, hundreds of Qiang warriors had already met them with carts loaded with supplies.

The smell of blood from the battlefield ahead was tangy, and in the light of the fire, hundreds of corpses were scattered on the ground.

Just as they were hesitating whether to rush forward to cut off a few heads, hundreds of Qiang warriors wearing iron armor retreated rapidly.

Looking further ahead, it was unclear how many Shu troops were maintaining order and advancing westward with great momentum.

"Why are you running so fast? We also have armor, don't be afraid!" The angry voice of the Qiang King suddenly rang in the ears of dozens of Wei soldiers.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw that under the fire not far away, the Qiang King's bloody right palm was covering his left arm. He was calmly commanding the Qiang warriors to retreat under the protection of several close guards.

The Wei soldiers who had rushed forward with the mentality of taking advantage of the situation hurriedly retreated when they saw this, fearing that the Qiang people could not hold on and would be killed by the Shu invaders.

...

noon.

The soldiers and civilians in Jieting City were still working hard to strengthen the city's defenses.

Outside Jieting City.

The Qiang King and nearly a thousand Qiang warriors did not enter the city. Instead, they left more than a dozen supply carts loaded with armor on the side of the road and drove the laborers westward, pushing the captured weapons, armor and food.

Zhang Xiong and Captain Li, who were on the city wall listening to the military commander's detailed account of last night's battle, were unable to react for a moment when they saw this situation.

"Why did they leave?" Captain Li asked.

Zhang He's son was also stunned. "Even if they're leaving, the number of baggage carts doesn't seem right. Weren't there more than 30 yesterday?"

"Is he planning to run away with all the armor we borrowed from him?" The military commander, who had been pushing the baggage all night, tried to keep his eyelids open and licked his dry lips.

Zhang Xiong and Li Duwei hurried down the city to give chase.

"Where is the Qiang King going?" Zhang Xiong stepped forward and rode alongside the Qiang King. He was shocked to find that the Qiang King's left arm was completely exposed and injured in many places.

There was indeed a wound on the man's arm that was so deep that the bone was visible, and the flesh was rolled up, which was horrifying.

"Once you have hunted the prey, you will naturally return home!" The Qiang King was satisfied and smiled complacently.

"Didn't the Qiang King say yesterday that he would defend Jieting with us?!" Captain Li was extremely anxious. Now the Longdi Road had been occupied by the Shu bandits, and no news had been sent back by the scouts sent out.

"The King of Qiang has now become an enemy of the Shu bandits. If he does not help our Great Wei to defend Jieting, and sits back and watches Longyou being taken over by the Shu bandits, won't he be afraid of being annihilated by the Shu bandits in the future?" Zhang Xiong was secretly angry and did not mention the matter of the iron armor at all. He just thought that the Qiang people were indeed greedy, violent and short-sighted, but he no longer doubted that the King of Qiang was sent by Guo Huai.

The Qiang King on horseback pondered for a long time, and finally said:

“It’s not that I don’t know this truth.

"But just as you Wei people can't trust me, how can I trust you Wei people?

"You are afraid that I will deceive your city gate, but how can I not be afraid that you will trick me into the city and take away my spoils?
"What did I say yesterday?

"I'll have you... well, you know... use the Han people's trick to trick them into abandoning their weapons and armor and entering the city, and then kill them all.

"Just now, I was thinking along the way, since you Wei people see that your strategies can't be used on the Han people, you must be thinking of using them on us Qiang people."

"King Qiang, what are you talking about?" Captain Li was extremely anxious. "The Shu invaders might arrive at the city tonight. If we kill the reinforcements sent by Envoy Guo, what will we gain?!"

"Who knows? Okay, get out of the way, I'm leaving." The Qiang King, looking a little weak, rode his horse forward and no longer paid attention to Zhang Xiong and the captain named Li who stayed where they were.

Zhang He's son rode forward, looking anxious:

"King Qiang, how about this? You wait outside Jieting City first. If the Wei reinforcements arrive before the Shu invaders arrive, King Qiang can leave later!"

Zhang Xiong has already sent people on horseback to Tianshui to ask for help today, and also sent people to see if there are other reinforcements on the way, but no one reported.

The Qiang King frowned. "What if the Han army arrives first? We won't be able to leave if we're carrying so much baggage."

When the Qiang King heard last night that the Han people were coming, he immediately ordered the Qiang people who were transporting grain and had originally planned to spend the night outside the city to escape with torches in the middle of the night.

Zhang Xiong immediately said, "If the Shu invaders arrive before our reinforcements, we would like to invite the Qiang King and his Qiang warriors to come to Jieting to fight against the Shu invaders together!"

The Qiang King was stunned at first, then pondered for a long time again.

He hesitated and pointed out four fingers, but then seemed to feel something was wrong, so he simply spread out his palm and said, "Five hundred."

Just as Zhang Xiong and Li Duwei were stunned and didn't know what to do, the Qiang King said with a look of pain on his face:

"Forget it. We Qiang people are the most trustworthy. Since we have agreed to help you fight the Han army, then the four hundred leaders will be included. If we win, you can give me another hundred leaders.

"If the Han army is really approaching the city and your reinforcements haven't arrived yet, I don't think you will dare to harm me again."

"Just follow the words of the Qiang King!" Zhang Xiong agreed immediately. He understood clearly that the Qiang King was not trustworthy at all. He was obviously afraid of being ambushed by the Wei soldiers after entering Jieting, and he was also worried that the Shu invaders would really seize Longyou and their Qiang Hu tribe would be liquidated.

The Qiang King ordered his men to turn back.

An hour passed.

The Qiang Yong had already settled down to rest at the foot of the city, and many of them fell asleep.

Several riders from the east brought back news that nearly a hundred Shu cavalrymen had blocked the Longdi Highway and were driving away the scouts.

Still no news of any reinforcements from the West.

Another hour later, another rider came running back from the east.

"Captain, enforce the law! Scouts have taken shortcuts across the mountains and reported back that tens of thousands of Shu invaders have arrived forty miles away an hour ago!"

"What?!" Zhang Xiong was shocked.

Captain Li was shocked: "Then they are only 20 or 30 miles away now?!"

Not long after, the city gate opened wide.

Two thousand Wei soldiers in armor were stationed on the city walls.

More than a thousand Qiang warriors in armor entered Jieting.

Before the arrival of the Han army, there was peace.

(End of this chapter)