Chapter 160: Declaration of War
At the same time that Qiao Yan led his army to attack Longxi County, a group of troops led by Jia Xu, Qu Yi and Chu Yan had also advanced into the city of Aowei.
Because of Jia Xu's life experience in Wuwei County before he retired, his efficiency in capturing cities along the way was not much slower than Qiao Yan's rapid capture of Ayang and Zhan counties and his attack on the city gate of Lintao.
The spies Han Sui had stationed in the city of Aowei died before they could return to Jincheng to report the news to Han Sui.
By the time Han Sui actually received the news, the troops led by Chu Yan had already gained a firm foothold in the mountains from Aowei City to Yuzhong.
Relying solely on these 5,000 men is indeed not enough to advance to Yuzhong.
But Jia Xu was such a shrewd and calculating person. He was very astute and experienced in the allocation of personnel. He first built a material transportation route between Gaoping and Awei City, and also allowed Chu Yan to set up camp and successfully deal with the invading troops that Han Sui tried to repel.
Qu Yi is certainly not useless.
Part of the heavy armored infantry under Qiao Yan was in Dian Wei's hands, and part was in Qu Yi's hands.
As Bingzhou prepared for the battle with Liangzhou, the number of these heavy armored infantrymen increased significantly compared to the time when they attacked Luoyang.
Last year, Qu Yi was able to ambush Xu Rong in the cover of night with his shield-wielding and heavily armored soldiers. Now he can lead his men to intercept Han Sui's army at the valley entrance.
After the first group of troops that attempted to expel the Bingzhou army from the country were defeated and returned, Han Sui, who received the news, looked unhappy.
It’s not that he doesn’t have good generals under his command.
One of them was Cheng Gongying, whom he appointed as the Chief Secretary.
The young general Yan Xing, who was promoted by him, was no worse than Ma Chao, the son of Ma Teng who was always boasting about, in terms of martial arts.
Both of them judged that in order to clear the team led by Chu Yan and Qu Yi from the mountain on the left side of Kuiyuan Gorge, they had to send more troops and be prepared for many soldiers to be sacrificed!
Under such circumstances, Han Sui had no way of asking why he was defeated.
Even if Yan Xing could tell him with certainty that the terrain of Kuiyuan Gorge was too special and that the Bingzhou army stationed in Aowei City could at best hold out against us but could not directly seize the canyon waterway, he could not feel any comfort.
The opponent's edge is right in front of us.
The letter from Qiao Yan challenging Feng Yishan to a duel was still on his desk, and the rebuke that Fu Gan had expressed to him when he sent the letter that day seemed to still be ringing in his ears.
It was not difficult for Han Sui to see from these two that Qiao Yan was very determined to attack Jincheng.
Now Qiao Yan himself has not appeared yet, and only a team with an unknown commander has come, which has already made him feel a little restrained.
This made him unable to help but worry about what would happen next.
What's more troublesome is that, because of the existence of that team, or perhaps because of the interception by other people, all the information he could have received in the direction of Gaoping City was intercepted outside. It was as if there was a pair of eyes that could see through the whole situation and were removing all the spies he had planted one by one.
Even though the area of Liangzhou was really as hot as its name suggests and it didn't seem that hot in this summer, Han Sui still felt like he was getting irritated.
"Do you think Qiao Bingzhou's team is on the way?" Han Sui asked Cheng Gongying and Yan Xing after they came back from their shift change.
If Ma Teng had not surrendered under the threat of Qiao Yan's army, he might have made such speculation after learning about Han Sui's situation.
But now he doesn't have to face such troublesome problems. Only Han Sui is still having a headache.
Cheng Gongying thought for a moment and replied, "The fighting situation in Kuiyuan Gorge has intensified over the past two days. It is possible that the enemy is about to launch a final attack. However... the Qiang people in Wuwei County are unwilling to provide us with more information, so I cannot make an accurate judgment."
Hearing Cheng Gongying say this, Han Sui couldn't help but pound the table with his fist.
This is certainly not just because there are people from Wuwei County in the Bingzhou Army.
When Jia Xu was kidnapped by the Qiang people in his early years, he could still say that he was the grandson of Taiwei Duan Xing. But now it is unknown how long Duan Xing has been dead. Even if he says that he is Dong Zhuo's son-in-law, these Qiang people will not listen to him.
So he doesn't have the ability to command those around him.
The Qiang people were unwilling to serve Han Sui because he gave up the appointment to meet at Feng Yishan, and Qiao Yan took drastic measures against the Qiang people in the Gaoping City area, creating a drama of "those who obey me will prosper, and those who defy me will perish."
This team, which has already firmly established its foothold in Liang Province, is now seen by the Qiang people in Wuwei County as having vented their anger at Han Sui for not coming to fight them, and is now targeting their nemesis.
Why should they interfere in matters of grudges and blood debts?
Qiao Yan's conspiracy did cause some trouble to Han Sui's actions, and made him lose a lot of forces that could have served as allies.
Without these supports, he was much more restricted than before.
Seeing Han Sui's expression, Cheng Gongying did not interrupt Han Sui's thoughts.
It was not until a long while later that Han Sui frowned and said, "We can't wait any longer. Send more troops first!"
Regardless of whether Coach Qiao Yan is already on his way to Jincheng, he can no longer be in such a passive state!
After giving Cheng Gongying the authority to mobilize troops and allowing him to transfer another 4,000 soldiers from the city, Han Sui considered it for a while and took out paper and pen to write a letter.
One letter was addressed to Dong Zhuo.
Since Prime Minister Dong, who now holds great power in Chang'an City, wants these Liangzhou warlords to work for him, he cannot just care about the safety of his own Guanzhong area.
If he really faced a life-and-death catastrophe, would Dong Zhuo be able to live a peaceful life once these "rebels" in Liang Province were wiped out?
The second letter was written to Ma Teng.
With Han Sui's "self-esteem", he would not show his weakness in his writing, but said -
Given that Qiao Yan's army is imminent, the Qiang people are inevitably unreliable. Only if the alliance between the two sides is closer can one side believe that the other side will come to its aid when facing a threat, rather than defecting out of helplessness.
To show his sincerity, he was willing to send his eldest son to Ma Teng as a hostage. In exchange, Ma Teng should also send his son to him in exchange.
Han Sui didn't expect Ma Teng to be kind enough to send Ma Chao over and serve as his thug.
But at least with this exchange, he will have an extra bargaining chip in his hand to prevent his allies from backstabbing him.
The third letter... no, it should be said that the other letters were written to several other forces in Liangzhou.
He wrote to Cheng Yi, Hou Xuan, Zhang Heng, Liang Xing and others.
These people were either Qiang or Han, but they had one thing in common: after the Han Dynasty lost control of Liangzhou, they gradually formed local separatist regimes relying on the power of their own subordinates.
This is determined by the mountainous terrain characteristics of Liangzhou.
However, they were not like Ma Teng and Han Sui, who were able to occupy an entire county and even be appointed as generals by Dong Zhuo.
In Han Sui's opinion, they were more like insignificant bandit leaders than separatist warlords.
But now, even if they are bandits, they are a group of bandits that are useful to him.
The tone of letters to these people should be very different from that to Dong Zhuo and Ma Teng.
Compared with the first two, these people are more like shields chosen by him, and are also tools used to weaken Qiao Yan's followers.
The combat capabilities of these people can never be compared with those of regular troops, but their sudden appearance would still be a nuisance, and that would be his chance.
Unfortunately, if he wants them to work for him, he has to spend more time playing word games to lure them.
Fortunately, Han Sui was a civil servant after all, so it was not difficult for him to write these things.
He also knows better than anyone what these people want!
However, just as he thought of this, the main door of the study in front of him was suddenly knocked open by someone.
The sudden sound startled his hand and caused the stroke of the pen to leave a mark of ink.
Han Sui looked up and shouted at the subordinate who had rushed in, "Why are you so flustered? Have you forgotten the rules of passing on the message?"
The subordinate still had a look of fear on his face and replied, "No! It's an urgent matter! Ma Chao is coming from the west of Jincheng."
If it were just Ma Chao, he obviously wouldn't have allowed him to behave so inappropriately.
His next words confirmed Han Sui's judgment. "Not just Ma Chao! There are also Bingzhou troops——"
"The Bingzhou Army is coming with Ma Chao!"
This is really bad news!
Han Sui's eyelids twitched, and without caring about the letter he was writing, he put the pen on the table, stood up, and went straight to the top of the city with his subordinates.
In Jincheng County, the only place that can be considered to be located in an open river valley area is Jincheng County.
The largest water system running through the river valley basin is the Yellow River.
Although the moat cannot directly draw water from the Yellow River, it can still serve as a barrier to protect the city.
But this barrier was used to defend against the Qiang and Hu in the north, so this county town was located south of the Yellow River.
It is also because of this that when enemies came from the west, the only barriers that could serve as a barrier for the Jincheng County City were the moat and the city walls, without the natural barrier of the Yellow River.
In most cases, this is not a problem, because the people guarding Jincheng will definitely control Huangzhong in the west and Longxi County in the south.
Just like Han Sui's situation at this time, the Qiang people who still maintained friendly relations with him were distributed in Huangzhong to the west, along with about a thousand of his men, who were responsible for transporting salt from the Chaka Salt Lake 400 miles west of Huangzhong as supplies to support his recruitment of soldiers and horses. Longxi to the south was where Ma Teng was, so theoretically there was no need to be more vigilant.
But today...
An accident happened today!
When Han Sui looked to the west, the soldiers who emerged from the mountain gorges and gradually spread out in the open area did not seem to belong to any of his allied forces, but were more like the Bingzhou army configuration that he had asked someone to find out earlier.
They gathered behind the flag about a thousand steps away from him, and there were already five or six thousand people in the formation.
This is just the beginning.
Han Sui clearly saw that the rear army continued to emerge from the Hutou Cliff at the rear.
It was precisely because of the scale of the march that, even though he couldn't see the words on the flag clearly, it was not difficult for him to make a judgment -
This could only be the army from Bingzhou!
This is the conclusion drawn by the subordinate who just came to report the news to him.
The only person he and his subordinates could recognize was Ma Chao, who was leading a group of cavalry in front.
Ma Teng's eldest son came and went like the wind and had a rebellious demeanor. Even if only a vague figure appeared in the distance, he would never be mistaken. Not to mention that he had been to Jincheng several times in the past two years, which left a deep enough impression on Han Sui.
Seeing this scene, he subconsciously clenched his fists.
Jincheng County, which he thought was the safest, was suddenly attacked by an airborne enemy from the rear, completely disrupting his plan to send letters to various parties.
Ma Chao's appearance also means that he must accept a reality -
Ma Teng, whose cooperative relationship with him was as close as that of lips and teeth, had unexpectedly switched to Qiao Yan without any notice.
Only he, this idiot, was still unaware of the movements on the other side of Kuiyuan Gorge, alert to the opponent's massive attack.
This is really too absurd!
shortage……
"General, be careful!"
Han Sui was suddenly dragged to the ground by the soldier who had brought the news.
Just at the moment he fell down, a sound of breaking air exploded above his head.
Han Sui looked up and saw that at the place where he had stood before, a feather arrow more than half a person's height was stuck on the rammed earth tower behind him.
If his subordinates had not pulled him down in time during his previous distraction, he would have been dead by now.
He couldn't help but feel a hint of fear flash across his face.
But after coming to his senses, Han Sui lived up to his heroic demeanor. He retreated to the watchtower without caring about his image, and at the same time had someone take down the feather arrow and put it in his hands.
He did not miss it in his panic. There was a rope tied to the end of the feather arrow. It was obvious that the other party had something to say and sent it in this way.
When the silk handkerchief was unfolded in front of him, he saw the signature at the end at first glance. As expected, it was Qiao Yan.
Very good!
Before the battle even started, an arrow came flying at him without any explanation. It was something that Qiao Yeshu could do.
Han Sui did not have time to think about how the heavy crossbow arrows achieved such precise strikes, but instead began to read the message sent by the arrows.
Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it a declaration of war.
Who made Han Sui see her write at the beginning -
[Recently, I have been ordered to punish the evildoers. With my banners pointing westward, the Qiang and Di tribes have surrendered. With Hanyang as the gateway, Longxi has surrendered. Then I will gather a large army of 100,000 men and hunt with you in Jincheng. 】1
Han Sui was not sure whether Qiao Yan really controlled an army of 100,000.
Logically speaking, this should be a vague estimate, but if it is true as Qiao Yan said, if all the soldiers in Hanyang County have joined her, and merged with the troops led by Ma Teng, plus the Qiang people she has won over and the Bingzhou headquarters, perhaps this number can really be reached.
There are not so many people under the Golden City now, which can be explained by the fact that a considerable number of people have gone to the direction of Kuiyuan Gorge to help the team coming from the siege city.
Thinking of this possibility, Han Sui's gaze couldn't help but stop on the word "hunting".
With his retreat cut off and reinforcements arriving in front of him, it was hard for him not to feel like he was the prey being hunted.
His breathing stagnated for a moment before he continued reading.
As expected, the next two paragraphs are an interpretation of the justice of her four words "Follow the words to punish the guilty".
Han Sui already knew how determined she was to attack from the letter of agreement she had sent him earlier, so he was not shaken by these harsh words.
Even when he saw her write about the cowardly rats who dared not fight in the battle of Fengyi Mountain, Han Sui pretended not to see it.
But obviously, the letter that she sent with this new trick must have some fresh words.
She said in a casual tone that Ma Teng was moved by the loyalty of the royal army and sent Ma Chao to welcome them to Lintao. No one among the attackers was killed or wounded. So she had the leisure to enjoy the mountains and scenery as she went down the Tao River and headed for Jincheng County.
There is an old saying that goes "the water is clearly divided by the river", but unexpectedly, in the territory of Liangzhou, there is a clear division between the Tao River and the Yellow River.
If someone had mentioned this to her before she had visited the place in person, she would have thought that the Tao River was clear and the Yellow River was turbid.
But in fact it is the opposite.
[Yan was fortunate to see this scene, when the Tao River was turbid and the Yellow River was clear. On the top of the mountains, the yellow and green colors were clearly separated. However, as the mud and sand continued to flow down, they were bound to merge and invade each other. It is similar to a general. 】
[You claim to be a man of integrity and uprightness, and want to borrow the reputation of the famous scholar Yan Zhong to raise your own status, but you let him die in anger. Jun Xiang, who was given the title of General Zuo, plotted to seize Jincheng, and he considered himself to be justified, but he was actually a traitor. In fact, they are trying to use the turbidity of their narrow place to pollute the clear water of the river. 】
[This can be called "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."] 】
Han Sui had never seen anyone use the phrase "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" to insult others!
Having said this, she naturally went on to write about how corrupt Han Sui was.
She didn't even have to make up anything.
After Ma Teng defected to Qiao Yan, he didn't want to lag behind his son in terms of effort, so he simply revealed everything Han Sui had done over the years.
Even though he knew that what she said were real things that had happened, it was hard for Han Sui not to feel burning with anger when he saw these massive accusations. He wanted to rush down the city and fight the enemy.
He suppressed his almost exploding emotions and read the last few lines. For the first time, he realized that there might be a reason why Dong Zhuo did not come to Liangzhou to stop Qiao Yan's battle.
He may not want to receive the second letter of denunciation to Dong Zhuo!
Those last few lines are truly the most breathtaking.
Because she wrote-
[General, did you have no choice but to defend Jincheng? Should you cry before fighting? 】
[Regardless of hatred, one should behave like a gentleman. I will give you this silk handkerchief.] 】
What this means is that Qiao Yan has shown off, scolded, and provoked, and now she has even fulfilled the final courtesy.
If you, Han Sui, want to cry and express that you had no choice but to betray the Han Dynasty, that's fine. I have prepared a silk handkerchief (declaration of war) for you to wipe your tears.
Then you can't say that I am a man of no moral principles when I descend from the sky like a god!
Han Sui's expression slowly froze on the spot.
There was only one sentence left in his mind at this moment.
This Qiao Yeshu is such a shameless person!
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