Three Kingdoms

"Someone wants revenge! Someone wants Thief Li's head!"

Just when Liu Fan was muttering about leaving Guanzhong and going to Jiaozhou, someone just wanted to stay in Guanzhong.

"Father's revenge has not been avenged! How can I leave? I want to stay in Guanzhong! I want revenge!" Ma Chao waved his arms and shouted loudly.

A plague has changed many things.

Originally, Zhong Shao was happy to see these Xiliang soldiers go to trouble Yang Biao's men, so although he didn't express anything on the surface, he actually made some supportive actions, not only asking Xia Mou to send some food and grass. When the baggage came over, they even turned a blind eye to Ma Chao and others' looting of the nearby Xiaowubao.

However, with the sudden outbreak of the plague after a heavy rain in Guanzhong, the situation completely changed.

Anyone with a clear mind must know that what will follow after the plague is a sharp decrease in population and a shortage of food and grass. Therefore, Xia Mou immediately notified Han Sui and said that he could no longer attack the surrounding Wubao. Otherwise, they will launch an attack on the Xiliang soldiers. Not only that, but the rations for the Xiliang soldiers will also be reduced.

Xia Mou himself had to protect his own soldiers, so how could he be so magnanimous as to supply Xiliang soldiers when he was hungry?

Under the heavy rain, there was a sea of ​​mud everywhere. Even if Ma Chao wanted to march, there was nothing he could do.

As time went by, the cost of Xiliang soldiers suddenly became tense.

At first, Han Sui was able to send some to Ma Chao, but this time or two was enough. He had to supply continuously over and over again, which made Han Sui feel even more stressed.

"Good nephew, let's go back to Xiliang for the time being..." Han Sui looked at Ma Chao with a headache, "...there is no rush for revenge. It won't be too late to come back when we have all the reserves..."

Ma Chao stared and said, "...Isn't it too late to come back?"

Han Sui nodded and said, "Yes, come back when you are ready."

"...are you ready?" Ma Chao stared at his eyes and murmured a few words. Suddenly, he stepped forward and knelt down in front of Han Sui and said with a choked voice, "...It's pitiful that my father's body is still unknown. Where is it! Uncle! We are working hard and don’t know where the military rations come from, but then...that thief Li has nowhere to get the rations! I just want to kill the thief Li and avenge a certain father!"

Logically speaking, what Ma Chao said is not wrong. Here in Xiliang, it is difficult for Han Sui and Ma Chao to maintain their relationship, and it will definitely be even more difficult for Li Jue.

But the problem is, if you want to find Li Jue's small force hiding in such a large area like Guanzhong, where will you go to find it for a while?

"...My dear nephew, please get up quickly..." Han Sui stepped forward to help Ma Chao up, then held Ma Chao's arm and said, "Brother Ma suffered this unexpected event, and I am also heartbroken... However, the current situation is indeed... I can’t stay long... My dear nephew, it’s better to listen to my uncle’s advice and go back to Xiliang first and then make plans..."

However, Ma Chao couldn't listen and just shook his head.

It’s not that Ma Chao didn’t understand the truth, but he had patted his chest on the back of his clan members for what he had said before, and now he went back dejected. Ma Chao felt that he couldn’t pull off such a face.

Like most people, the younger you are, the more you care about your face. In other words, as you get older, you know when to put it down and when to pick it up.

Seeing Ma Chao's insistence, Han Sui was sincere. Although Ma Chao was sometimes a little reckless, it was understandable that he wanted revenge after killing his father, so he persuaded him again: "My dear nephew, even if You are the one who led the troops to search, but you have to know that Li Thief's place is a place hit hard by the plague! This plague is beyond the power of human beings... If you lead the people forward, it is tantamount to feeding into the tiger's mouth! Even if you don't You have to think about others, yourself, and the people who follow you..."

"This! This..." Ma Chao was speechless.

In this era, there is almost no solution to the plague, which is naturally an important reason why Ma Chao's troops dare not move forward rashly. Although these Qiangqihu people are not afraid of life and death on the battlefield, they do not want to die in vain under the clutches of the plague.

"..." Ma Chao turned his attention to his brothers, his tribe, hoping to get support and encouragement from them, but he didn't. In the face of the plague, even the bravest warriors cannot withstand it. Everyone knows this truth, so no one dares to rush into the area hardest hit by the plague.

"...Retreat, retreat," Han Sui patted Ma Chao's shoulder and said, "...If you endure it for a while, you still have a chance to come back. If you and your people are ruined by the plague in vain, Even if there is a chance to take revenge in the future, what’s the point?”

Ma Chao's raised head finally drooped, like an eggplant beaten by frost...

"...Let's go." Han Sui thought he had persuaded Ma Chao, so he pulled Ma Chao and told him to pack his bags and prepare to return to Xiliang.

Unexpectedly, Ma Chao followed Han Sui for two steps, but broke free from Han Sui's hand, raised his head and said, "If you don't leave! It's too late to take revenge for killing your father! Uncle, you go back first with your tribe, as long as you give me Just leave five hundred horses! Wait until someone kills Thief Li, and then return to Xiliang!"

"You!" Han Sui was furious, but looking at Ma Chao's appearance, he finally sighed and said, "Forget it, nephew, please be more careful..."

…………………………

Ma Chao may not have thought that such a willful move of his would turn the entire Guanzhong into a mess like a huge shit stick.

Originally, the forces in Guanzhong were generally relatively balanced.

Yang Biao was in Chang'an City, and Zhu Jun was stationed in Lingyi. Although there were not many soldiers, they were still a military force. Zhong Shao and Liu Fan were in charge of Chang'an City Defense and Forbidden Army, and Xia Mou was leading the troops outside.

In terms of the number of soldiers, Zhong Shao naturally has more soldiers, but two-thirds of Zhong Shao's troops are at Xia Mou, so near Chang'an City, Yang Biao's soldiers are even more than Zhong Shao's. .

Therefore, in the Chang'an area, there was overall mutual checks and balances. Neither Yang Biao nor Zhong Shao was sure that they could defeat each other immediately, so they framed each other politically and engaged in secret confrontations.

Zhong Shao actually had the idea of ​​using the Xiliang soldiers as swords, but after all, Dong Zhuo had learned from the past. If he couldn't control it, this Xiliang soldier would be even more dangerous than Yang Biao, so in the end he decided to use the Xiliang soldiers as a weapon. As a backup method, Xia Mou was forced to drag it on.

However, this plague in Guanzhong made it impossible to maintain the ambiguous relationship between Zhong Shao and Xiliang Bing.

After the plague, anyone with a little bit of brains knew that there would be a period of shortage of food and grass. Therefore, they tried their best to guard their one-third-acre land and counted the storage with their fingers. How could it still be the same? Provide food and grass to Xiliang soldiers?

Therefore, the retreat of Xiliang soldiers was naturally what Zhong Shao had expected.

As soon as Han Sui led most of the Xiliang soldiers to retreat, Xia Mou and others naturally knew about it and immediately reported it to Zhong Shao. Zhong Shao ordered Xia Mou to return to the court with his troops, which immediately put tremendous pressure on Yang Biao and others.

However, I never expected that Ma Chao actually did not leave and was traveling around with a small group of troops. Such an army naturally cannot carry a large amount of food and grass, nor can it produce and sell it on its own. All the consumption will naturally be eaten wherever it goes. Wherever they go, they are all on horseback, coming and going like the wind, like horse bandits, plundering everywhere.

This was immediately seized upon by Yang Biao and others, saying that Zhongshao, Xia Mou and others mobilized troops, wasted money and wasted money but could not protect the country and the people, and allowed Xiliang thieves to go unchecked. It even vaguely suggested that Zhongshao and Xiliang soldiers were colluding with each other. So much...

For a time, the situation in Guanzhong was tense, and the relationship between Zhong Shao and Yang Biao dropped to a freezing point.

…………………………

"...This Yuan Zhi, Guanzhong is already in chaos, and he actually wants to get in..." Fei Qian pinched the short beard on his chin and held the military report sent by Xu Shu in his hand, somewhat dumbfounded.

Yinshan Mountain in the north has just settled down, and trouble is about to start in the south where Xu Shu is, this...

Diaoyin, where Xu Shu was located, commanded nearly five thousand soldiers and horses. In addition, Fei Qian left the seal to Xu Shuzuo Feng Yi. As the front-line command center, Xu Shu naturally focused his attention on Guanzhong. above an area.

If the plague had not been too terrible some time ago, Xu Shu would have taken action against Zuo Feng Yi. Now that he is seeing the plague gradually receding, the plan to develop southward has naturally been put on Fei Qian's desk again.

But the question is, is this a good time to expand to the south?

According to Fei Qian's original idea, at least he had to wait for a while to allow Yinshan to recover a little. Moreover, within Fei Qian's plan, he would take advantage of the Xianbei defeat this year to send troops north to thrive in the Xianbei tribe. When the time comes, let's make a little fortune and get some war dividends.

Everyone knows that the Hu people are generally used to going south in late autumn and early winter. This time happens to be the most prosperous time of the year for the farming people, and they have just harvested a lot of food, so the Hu people can go back with a lot of loot. Have a happy winter.

So farming people have seasons, but nomadic peoples don’t?

It's the same thing, but this season happens to be during the lean season of the farming people, so the farming people don't have much thought to put down the hoes in their hands, throw down the seedlings in the fields, and go all the way to find trouble with the barbarians.

However, it is different here in Feiqian. Anyway, most of the crops near Yinshan Mountain will be paid out this year. Even if we replant some crops with a short growth period at this time, we will not be able to harvest much. It is better to sweep this area completely. The threat of Xianbei has been completely eliminated, providing Yinshan with a safer long-term development period.

Starting from May to around August every year, it is the breeding time of livestock on the grassland. During the reproduction period, just like the farming people, they all need a stable place, an area with rich water and grass, so this time point is the biggest shortcoming of the people on the grassland.

Anyway, just go to the place with the best water and grass on the grassland, and I will definitely catch it...

Fei Qian had already begun to make such preparations before coming to Bingzhou. Even when he left the Huang family in Jingzhou, he brought some related things and manpower with him. Xu Huang and Pang Tong were also aware of it at that time. , or more or less guessed...

Given the time difference, since the Hu people came to rob the Han people during the harvest season, they could not blame Fei for attacking back during the breeding season on the grasslands.

It sounds complicated, but it's actually very simple.

Castration.

Since the war horse will be in heat during this period, it is enough to cut off the root of the troubles. The people of the Central Plains have understood this technology very early, but it seems that they first used it on their own bodies...

From the time they arrived in Bingzhou, there were successive battles. Some of the war horses were injured and retired from the front line to recuperate. Some of them were castrated under Fei Qian's arrangement.

After castration, war horses gain weight faster and will not conflict with other war horses in the same tank, so their recovery is pretty good. Now I have calculated the number, and there are nearly a thousand horses that have been castrated and have recovered from their injuries. Matched.

Such a force is enough to give a barbarian a drink.

Of course, although castration is good, it cannot be used on a large scale. Castrated war horses are docile and obedient, and are the first choice of many southern Han people who are not good at riding horses. However, after all, they cannot reproduce and are a one-time, non-renewable resource. Once they are used up, they are finished.

Therefore, Fei Qian also tried his best to control the number of gelded war horses within a certain range.

In addition to this, the technology of castration and breeding of domestic pigs is also constantly advancing, and it seems to have achieved certain results. Now farmers breed several Canopy Marshals not only for food, but also for fertilizing with their feces. , so in Pingyang, the number of houses specially built for pigs has gradually increased.

Fei Qian tapped the table with his fingers. Although he wanted to use troops against the barbarian gathering areas north of Yinshan Mountain, only about three thousand troops would be enough. After all, it was just looting and transportation, so there was no need to invest too much. It is not impossible to mobilize the remaining soldiers to go south...

What Xu Shu said makes sense. Now near Chang'an, Zhong Shao and Yang Biao were in a stalemate and had no time to worry about it, so they sent out troops to seize some of Zuo Fengyi's cities. If they advance, they can threaten the Chang'an area, and if they retreat, they can gain Zuo Fengyi's land and territory. The population can then affect the situation in Guanzhong and decide the next step based on the changes.

In this way, it is at least better than drying in the shade.

After all, if there are any changes in Guanzhong, Diaoyin is still a little far away. If we wait until we receive any information and start from Diaoyin, the dust may have settled by the time we arrive.

But the problem is that the supply of food and grass is currently in short supply. It is really a headache. Where can I get some money and food?