Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 56 Mutation
March seventeenth.

The Han army camp at Wuzhangyuan was built in an orderly manner under the organization of Dong Yun.

The Han emperor, dressed in a black straight-skirted robe, was standing at the northernmost end of the plateau with the Jinwu flag, overlooking the entire Guanzhong Plain.

The famous Wuzhangyuan under his feet was more than 100 meters above the Guanzhong Plain. This height would be equivalent to a building of more than 30 floors in later generations.

What concept?
The Gaowang Happy City Jade Bi, which was extremely famous during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, was built on the extremely steep Emei Terrace, but it was only forty or fifty meters higher than the Hedong Plain.

Therefore, Liu Chan, who felt that he had some knowledge of military affairs, could almost say arbitrarily:

In the entire Guanzhong Plain, there is no other place with a view that can compare to Wuzhangyuan. There is probably no other place more suitable for the Han army to set up camp or even build a city than Wuzhangyuan.

Not to mention the Han emperor who had witnessed two major battles, even if an ignorant college student who had just traveled through time and space stood on the plateau, he would understand why the prime minister could confront Sima Yi on this plateau for so long without fear.

——This is simply not something that can be conquered by human power.

There are cliffs over a hundred meters high on the east and west sides.

The vertical angle is approximately between sixty and eighty degrees.

It is not impossible to climb up, but you must use your hands and feet, and you need something to climb with. Otherwise, you can only climb up from the steps that the Han army has already dug.

Only the north side of the plateau has a small section with a gentle slope of nearly 40 to 50 degrees.

At this height, even if the gentle slope could be climbed, it would be too difficult to climb, and only a few hundred people would be needed to keep the intersection safe.

More importantly, on the east side of the plateau is a whole sloping river that serves as a drainage channel and plateau protection river.

During the days that Liu Chan was in the military camp, what he heard most every day was not any brilliant strategies, but rather the supply routes.

I've heard it so much that my ears are callused. If he still doesn't understand the importance of grain and water supply routes, then he's not fit to be the emperor.

At this moment, the boundless Guanzhong Plain was in sight, which gave Liu Chan, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, a sense of grandeur.

So he dared to say shamelessly:

Once Longyou fell into the hands of the Han, the Han only needed to leave the prime minister to lead an army of 30,000 to 40,000 and tens of thousands of civilians to stay here for a long time, implement military settlements on the south bank of the Wei River, and build a military fortress directly relying on Wuzhangyuan. This would completely isolate the Wei River, and Longyou would no longer be in danger unless there was an internal rebellion.

The surrendered general Deng Ai just came in handy!
However, thinking of this, the Han emperor suddenly became dazed.

Could it be that after taking Longyou, the Prime Minister really set up military farms here to confront Sima Yi?
With the national strength of the Han Dynasty, Liu Chan really did not dare to dream of taking Chang'an in one battle.

Cao Zhen has been dead for ten days.

According to the scouts' report, Cao Rui had led more than 10,000 Chang'an defenders back to Luoyang seven days ago.

According to Sima Yi's super-fast marching speed of a thousand miles in eight days, he would probably appear in Chang'an within thirty days.

It was a blessing that the Prime Minister's army could capture Longyou before Sima Yi arrived. I really didn't dare to expect that the Prime Minister could lead his troops down to Longyou in time to block Wuguan, Fenglingdu and Pubandu.

The reason why Zhang He was forced to surrender Long this time was simply because Zhang He did not know the strength of the Han army in Guanzhong and was afraid that the Han army here would block Wuguan and Liangdu.

This is the follow-up plan for Wei Yan’s Ziwu Valley strategy.

There are two passes, two crossings and one blockade, and the competition is about who can fight better, and Wei Yan seems very confident.

Liu Chan had no confidence.

Suddenly, I thought, if the Prime Minister really confronted Sima Yi in Guanzhong, who would go to fight against Jingzhou?
This time he personally led the army to kill Cao Zhen. If he could also capture Longyou, given the character of Sun Quan of Eastern Wu, he would probably become the King of Wei again.

Even if he doesn't come, I wouldn't dare to believe him.

A slightly pungent smell came, and Liu Chan soon discovered that it was from a dozen war horses that had already rotted and were infested with maggots, with a large group of terrifying green-headed flies flying around them.

Judging from the style of the horsehide saddle above, it is undoubtedly the warhorse of the Han Tiger Cavalry.

"Pijiang, find someone to burn these war horses." Liu Chan stood with his hands behind his back, looking into the distance and gave orders to Zhao Guang behind him.

"Yes!" Zhao Guang immediately turned around and found someone to deal with it.

The Han army camp was still in the center of the plateau and had not been built here, so the bodies of the war horses that were seriously injured when Mi Wei led the Tiger Cavalry to intercept the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry of Cao Wei that day had not been dealt with in time.

If left unattended, problems may arise.

It hadn't rained in the past few days, and bloody horse hoof prints could be seen everywhere on the ground.

Liu Chan continued to walk back and forth on the plateau, and soon he found hundreds of bloody arrows with broken tails scattered on the grass.

Liu Chan picked up a few of them at random and put them together into a handful.

Now he also understood that the reason for cutting off the arrow tail was to prevent the wound from being damaged by the arrow's swing.

The reason why the arrow cannot be directly removed is to allow the body to clot the blood on its own, and to allow treatment to be given as soon as the military doctor removes the arrowhead.

"I don't know how Buwu is doing." Liu Chan thought of Mi Wei again.

In the end, he did not die from tetanus, so he was lucky.

But he was left in the valley behind with half of his leg broken, and I couldn't be by his side to comfort him. I wonder if he would suffer from depression because of this.

It’s not his fault that he thought too much, but people in the Han Dynasty attached great importance to appearance.

When Xiahou Dun lost one eye, he did not actually yell "Father's sperm and mother's blood cannot be discarded" and swallow it up as in the novel. Instead, after hearing the words "Blind Xiahou", he "looked in the mirror in anger and threw the mirror to the ground."

No matter what, Mi Wei's question "Are we, the Mi family, loyal?" still touched Liu Chan a little. He wondered how Mi Fang was doing in Jiangdong now.

"Your Majesty, there's no need to worry. Uncle Mi is a man of good fortune." Zhao Guang could tell that the emperor seemed a little downcast. Honestly, he wasn't familiar with Mi Wei before and thought he was just a fake uncle with no blood relationship to the emperor, not to mention his traitorous uncle.

But after this battle, Zhao Yun's second son was completely convinced of his man.

Without that uncle of the king who successfully intercepted Cao Wei's 2,000 Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, it would have been very difficult for the Han Dynasty to calmly retreat to the Xiegu plank road.

Once the army loses a lot of troops, it will be impossible to carry out measures such as cutting off Meiwu, stationing at Sanguan, and seizing Jieting after returning to Xiegu.

in the afternoon.

Zhao Yun, Deng Zhi, Zong Yu, Dong Yun and other important officials gathered in the commander's tent at Wuzhangyuan.

Liu Chan took out the battle report of the conquest of Jieting and handed it to several people who had not yet seen the detailed report.

Now that Jieting has been captured, we need to discuss what to do next.

Zong Yu, who is in his early forties and wearing a plain robe and a scarf, looks like a scholar. Now he is looking at the battle report with a complicated expression.

"I've heard that the Qiang are extremely greedy and violent, prone to rebellion, but I never imagined Yang Tiao to be so... loyal and courageous, resolute and resourceful. I wonder how the Prime Minister actually negotiated with them."

In fact, the people in the Han army, especially the scholars like Zong Yu and Dong Yun, had some doubts and prejudices about the Prime Minister's decision to invite Qiang and Xianbei people to the north for help before the Northern Expedition.

Non-my family, its heart must be different.

Needless to say, the Xianbei people had been invading and plundering the two states of You and Bing every year since the time of Emperor Huan.

The Qiang people had been causing rebellions in Liang Province for a hundred years, and had long been a major threat to the Han Dynasty. After twenty years of peace, they took advantage of the situation and rose up again during the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

"I really never thought that the Qiang and Hu people made the greatest contribution to the capture of Jieting." Liu Chan couldn't help but sigh.

If we move away from the throne of feudal emperor and look at it from another perspective, the so-called century-long Qiang rebellion is nothing more than the Qiang people's "where there is oppression, there is resistance."

Their pastures were occupied, and they wanted to settle down and farm, but they were discriminated against and exploited by the Guandong samurai who had no choice but to come to Liangzhou to serve as officials because of the "Three Mutual Laws". They had no human rights at all, and finally had to unite all the oppressed Qiang people to resist.

The emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty did not see these things. He only heard from the Guandong officials in the central court every day that the Qiang people in Liangzhou were extremely greedy and violent, and their hearts must be rebellious. Therefore, he repeatedly sent troops to conquer them, which further aroused the Qiang people's fierce resistance.

The group of Guandong nobles who could only make money as officials in Liangzhou but could not gain political prestige secretly formed an alliance to exploit the Qiang people. They said, "You exploit me this year, and it will be my turn next year. Everyone should keep quiet and work quietly."

In addition, they had the right to speak, so under their exaggeration, almost all scholars felt that the Qiang people were greedy, violent and prone to chaos, and that this was their nature.

In fact, according to the conclusion Liu Chan came to after reading novels for many years, if there were more officials who were good at managing personnel to appease them for a hundred years, this group of Qiang people would probably have been integrated into the nation long ago.

Who would want to live on the edge of a knife when they can live a stable life?

I just don't know what the Prime Minister promised to make the King of Anding Qiang so devoted to him.

After everyone finished reading the battle report on the recapture of Jieting, and expressed their admiration for the Qiang King and Zhao Tongyan's bold words of "not sparing one's life, let alone an arm", Liu Chan finally spoke.

"My lords, Wei Wenchang and the prince have already cut off Tianshui and are approaching Ji County.

"The important city of Jieting has been defended by Feng Shanju and Fu Gongquan, who are leading 3,000 men.

"What do you think, my Lords, should we do next? Do you have any suggestions?"

Everyone was thinking.

Zong Yu, the Right General of the Imperial Household and a military officer in the Prime Minister's Office, was the first to speak up: "Your Majesty, isn't it too few to defend Jieting with only 3,000 men?

"Ma Su previously had 10,000 men defending Jieting, but now he's only sending 3,000 men to hold the position. I think this is inappropriate, perhaps we can ask Qiang chief Yang Tiao to join us."

The battle report said that after successfully capturing Jieting, Qiang chief Yang Tiao returned to Yuezhi with his several thousand troops.

Guan Xing and Zhao Tong led more than a thousand Tiger Guards to escort the Wei captives who surrendered from Jieting and the laborers who transported grain down the mountain. It was estimated that it would take another two days to reach Chencang.

Zhao Yun hesitated to speak, but the emperor, who felt that he had some knowledge of military affairs, spoke first:
"The Right General of the Central Army is probably unaware of the terrain of Longyou. If the Wei invaders want to enter Longyou, they won't have only Jieting as a route.

"Yuezhi, held by Qiang chieftain Yang Tiao, directly controls the three routes of Wating, Jitou, and Fanxu. Its importance is no less than that of Jieting."

Zong Yu seemed to be about to argue, but in the end he remained silent.

A moment later, something happened that surprised Liu Chan: Minister Dong actually held the same opinion as Zong Yu:

"Your Majesty, I also think that we should send more troops to Jieting.

"If the Prime Minister fails to capture Tianshui after a long siege, the mere 3,000 men can only help the Wei invaders who have returned to Longshan to divide their forces, but they cannot leave the city to harass the grain route, so I'm afraid it is not enough to cut off the Longshan line.

"General Zhao previously stationed 20,000 troops here. Once the Xiegu army is fully deployed, our Wuzhangyuan army will still number over 20,000.

"Although the false emperor should not have returned to Luoyang yet, it will take Sima Yi's army in Guandong another twenty days or a month to reach Guanzhong.

“But I am always worried. Could it be that the Bingzhou and Hedong military supplies, from which there has been no news, have received the false emperor’s edict and are about to arrive?

"In addition, the Wei invaders still have 10,000 to 20,000 troops in Chang'an. If they all come west and join forces with Zhang He, our 4,000 defenders guarding Meiwu will have to retreat to Wuzhangyuan.

"In this way, the enemy's food supply route will be open again. If we go up to Longshan and allocate 10,000 troops, we can secure the food supply route to Jieting.

"Therefore, it is better to increase the troops in Jieting. If we have 7,000 or 8,000 men, the Wei rebels will definitely want to reinforce Tianshui. Without 20,000 men, they will not dare to advance westward."

Liu Chan was stunned when he heard this, but he finally discovered a point that he had always overlooked.

Because they had robbed Cao Rui's letter before, they thought Zhang He would not go down to Long, and there was no commander in Guanzhong, so the Han Dynasty could run rampant in Guanzhong.

But if Zhang He went down to Long and the Prime Minister did not, wouldn't Guanzhong have a general?!
If Taiyuan and Hedong had delivered food and supplies, wouldn't Zhang He, knowing Cao Rui was not in Chang'an and unable to do anything about Wuzhangyuan, have decided to march up Long again?
Then... it seems that we can only send more troops to Jieting?
　There was a problem with the upload yesterday, so I posted 12,000 words today. I would like to ask for a recommendation vote and a monthly vote. I will definitely update 8,000 words tomorrow!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)