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Just as the Huns were trapped in Luochuan Road and advanced to the valley, the main force of the Han army that Huchuquan had been longing for finally sent troops from Xiaoguan. General Zhao Yun, the Zhenbei, led an army of 50,000 to leave Xiaoguan and marched towards Gaonu County.

This army consists of ten thousand infantry and twenty thousand cavalry, but even infantry also has war horses to carry on. In addition, there are more than ten thousand mules and horses, full of various military weapons, and they are rushing towards Gao Nu.

This was a strategic counterattack for beautiful things, and it was also a strategic plan set by many senior staff officers of the Han army in Yong County. No matter how the Huns attacked Gaonu County, the Han army remained unmoved, either the Huns were forced to withdraw back to the grassland, or the Huns went south in large numbers.

As long as the Huns go south, the Han army will do everything possible to hold it back. At this time, the main force of the Han army sends troops directly behind the Huns and cuts off his food and grass logistics, which will put the Huns army in a more passive situation.

"Military advisor, do you think the Huns would retreat north from Luochuan Road?" Zhao Yun rode on the war horse and asked Fa Zhengdao with a smile.

As a military advisor, Fa Zheng walked with Zhao Yun, and there were also left and right deputy generals Pang De and Zhang Yi, as well as a group of generals including Ma Dai, Leng Bao, Deng Xian, Deng Ai and other groups of generals went out to war.

Fa Zheng stroked his beard and smiled and said, "I believe Hu Chuquan will withdraw his troops unless he is trapped in Luochuan Road. However, the enemy we will deal with first is not Hu Chuquan, but Liu Bao's Bingzhou Xiongnu."

Zhao Yun pondered for a moment and said, "In this way, the key to whether the victory of this battle is whether His Highness the King of Han can hold back the Xiongnu Shanyu."

"The general is right. I believe that His Highness of the King of Han will hold back the Xiongnu army, and there will be Cao's army. Once Liu Bao crosses the river and advances westward, how could Cao Cao stand by and watch?"

Zhao Yun nodded. He knew all the things Fa Zheng said. With Cao Cao behind him, he was not worried about Liu Bao's army. The key was whether the Han King's army could drag it down.

At this moment, a team of cavalry rushed to the distance and shouted: "His Royal Highness of Han's military order"

Zhao Yun was immediately excited and urged his horse to greet him, clasped his fists and bowed to the military marquis, took out a scroll of letters and presented it to Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun quickly opened it and looked at it, and his eyes suddenly showed excitement. At this time, Fa Zheng urged the horse to follow and asked with concern: "What did your Highness say?"

Zhao Yunan endured the excitement in his heart and handed the letter to Fazhengdao: "Your Highness said that Liu Qubei has been trapped in the straight road. He will try his best to hold back the main force of the Shanyu in Luochuandao and order us to advance quickly and destroy the logistics supply camp of the Xiongnu army before Liu Bao."

After reading the letter scroll, a raging war ignited in his heart and immediately said to Zhao Yun: "Since His Highness the King of Han is looking forward to us so much, how can we let him down?"

"The military advisor is right"

Zhao Yun immediately ordered: "Send the order to the army and speed up the marching."

The 50,000 army accelerated its marching speed and rushed to Gaonu County.

Since Lingzhou was captured by Liu Qubei's Xiongnu army, it has become a logistics important place for Liu Qubei in the area of ​​Guannei to replace the Sheyanhai destroyed by the Han army. Lingzhou is Shuofang County. Today, the area of ​​Wuzhong County, Ningxia has sufficient light and a fertile field of thousands of miles. It is the most ideal place for irrigation agriculture. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the imperial court has immigrated here on a large scale to carry out reclamation and cultivation, making it an important source of food for the Han Dynasty.

But since the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Guanlong area gradually became devastated, and Lingzhou was no exception. It became the territory of the Qiang people. Qiang king Ah Yan even planned to establish a country here. For this reason, Ah Yan frequently contacted Huchuquan and wanted to get the support of the Huns first, but he did not hesitate to become a vassal of the Huns.

It’s a pity that Ah Yan made a big mistake. He did not seek the protection of the Right King Liu Qubei, but instead relied on the Xiongnu Khan. This was undoubtedly the introduction of Huchuquan’s power into the pass, touching Liu Qubei’s core interests. This was Liu Qubei’s taboo.

Liu Qubei took advantage of the unexpected death of Ah Shang. Several children fought for the throne and sent a large army to capture Lingzhou in one fell swoop. Except for some Qiang people who escaped in time, the other Qiang people were either slaughtered or became slaves of the Huns.

At present, Lingzhou is occupied by a tribe controlled by Liu Qubei Chang Liu Meng. The entire Lingzhou has a population of 100,000, of which about 100,000 are the Huns, and the rest are slaves of Qiang people. The Huns serve the people in normal times and soldiers in wartime. According to the rule of five people sending one army, Liu Meng can mobilize 20,000 troops.

However, the Huns had just occupied Lingzhou and many places needed to mobilize their people's strength. Liu Meng only recruited 10,000 cavalry to protect Lingzhou, and in an emergency, went to support his father Liu Qubei.

Liu Meng has been paying attention to the war in the south. When he got the news that the main force of the Han army had sent troops from Xiaoguan, he had the idea of ​​leading his army to seize Xiaoguan while the troops were empty. However, the mantis stalked the cicada and the oriole was behind. Liu Meng never dreamed that he had already become Liu Jing's meal.

On the other side of the Yellow River in Lingzhou is the famous Helan Mountains, about five miles long from north to south. Between the mountains and the Yellow River, there are dozens of miles wide mountain shrubs and meadows. It is an excellent pasture. This was originally a place for the Qiang people to graz. However, since the Huns wiped out Lingzhou, the Qiang tribe who grazed at the Helan Mountain had to give up the pasture and go south to Hexi.

The Huns still have differences on the ownership of this plump pasture. So far, it has not been decided which tribe it belongs to. There are no herds of cattle, sheep and galloping horses on this plump grassland.

However, that morning, a team of Han cavalry scouts rushed past the grassland and ran south.

Half an hour later, they rushed to a Gaogang and appeared in front of them an area of ​​large camps. Thousands of tents were distributed in the vast wilderness. In front of a certain huge camp, there were two large flags, one was the yellow-bottomed black dragon military flag of the Han army, and the other was the commander flag of this army, with a huge horse embroidered on it.

This is the Hexi army led by Ma Chao. The Han army had 15,000 people in Hexi. Ma Chao was the governor of Zhenxi, Liao Hua was the deputy governor, and Deng Zhi was the army to join the army and controlled the five counties including Wuwei, Zhangye, Juyan, Jiuquan and Dunhuang. Not long ago, Ma Chao participated in the military and political discussions held by Liu Jing in Yong County. At this time, he accepted an important task assigned to him by Liu Jing, to seize Lingzhou and annihilate the Xiongnu army in Lingzhou.

Of course, Ma Chao understood his strength. With his 15,000 Han army in Hexi alone, he might not be able to seize Lingzhou.

To this end, he invited the Qiang and Hu forces from Hexi to join the alliance in Zhangye and asked them to send troops to assist the Han army in the attack of Lingzhou. This request was fully supported by the Qiang and Hu troops. The revengeful Qiang tribes produced 20,000 elite cavalrymen, and took out 10,000 cavalry heads as military rations. Together with the Han army, they formed a Northern Expedition coalition, which brought Ma Chao's army to 5,000. Ma Chao immediately left 5,000 Han troops to guard Hexi, and he personally led tens of thousands of troops to march towards Lingzhou.

In the tent, Ma Chao was discussing military information with Liao Hua, Deng Zhi and Qiang general Bei Gongxun. According to the initial plan, they were preparing to cross the Yellow River north of Lingzhou, first cut off the Xiongnu's return to retreat to Hetao, and then head south to attack Lingzhou. However, just early this morning, Ma Chao received important information. A Xiongnu army of more than 10,000 people went south to Xiaoguan. This was obviously Liu Meng's attempt to take advantage of the opportunity of Beigaonu, the main force of the Han army, to attack Xiaoguan.

This unexpected intelligence interrupted their plan to go north. They decided to cross the river immediately and attack Lingzhou, but there was still some difference between them on whether to attack Lingzhou first or to defeat Liu Meng's army.

At this time, Deng Zhi stood up and smiled at the other people and said, "In fact, we don't have to stick to whom we should deal with first. We have enough troops and can send troops. If Liu Meng knew that Lingzhou was in trouble, he would inevitably retreat north immediately. We would also half ambush him and catch him off guard."

Ma Chao also had this intention, so he smiled at Liao Hua and said, "Deng's suggestion to join the army is exactly what I want. Yuan Jian can lead 5,000 troops to attack Lingzhou, and I will lead the rest of the troops to block the Xiongnu army who returned to the north."

The Qiang general Bei Gongxun hesitated for a moment, stood up and saluted Ma Chao and said, "The Huns killed my compatriots and captured my women and children. The Qiang people were all indignant. When they attacked Lingzhou, the Qiang people were willing to send troops to participate."

When Ma Chao and the leaders of the Qiang tribes joined forces in Zhangye, they made it clear that Lingzhou has been a territory under the jurisdiction of the court since the Qin and Han Dynasties. This time, Lingzhou will be merged into the territory of the Han Kingdom and will no longer belong to the Qiang people. However, Ma Chao also agreed that in addition to the Qiang people who were captured as slaves, the cattle and sheep of the Huns will be given to the Qiang people as rewards for their troops, and the Huns' tribe population will be disposed of by the Han army.

Although this treaty of distributing profits was very unfair to the Qiang people, they had no choice. This was not Ma Chao's decision, but the order of King Liu Jing of Han. Ma Chao only conveyed it on his behalf. As a subject of the Han country, the Qiang people could only accept the arrangements of King Han unconditionally.

However, Beigongxun still hopes to participate in the attack on Lingzhou. In this way, as military merits, they can also get some other property. Ma Chao understands his meaning. At this time, he still needs to win over the Qiang people. Ma Chao smiled and said, "In this way, the Qiang people will also send out 5,000 troops, led by Deputy Governor Liao, with a total of 10,000 troops attacking Lingzhou. I hope this plan will satisfy General Beigong."

Beigongxun quickly bowed and said, "I wish to listen to the governor's arrangement."

Beigongxun rushed to the military camp to order troops, and only Ma Chao, Liao Hua and Deng Zhi were left in the tent. Ma Chao said to Liao Hua: "This time the attack on Lingzhou, His Highness the King of Han specially cared for several principles. One is that the land in Lingzhou must not be returned to the Qiang people. After the end of this battle, Yuan Jian led 5,000 troops to station in Lingzhou and implement military garrisons.

The second is the population. The Central Plains is insufficient and it is impossible to immigrate to the pass on a large scale. Therefore, it is necessary to turn the Xiongnu herders into subjects of the Han Dynasty and implement semi-agricultural and semi-announced management. The key is to let them settle down."

Liao Hua frowned and said, "The Huns have been pastors for generations and are used to nomadic life. If they let them settle down, they may face great resistance."

Ma Chao sneered, "The real resistance is not ordinary herders, but Xiongnu nobles. Therefore, Your Highness told me that when this time the attack on Lingzhou, all the Xiongnu nobles would be executed without leaving any future troubles. Ordinary herders would give them land, help them build houses, and teach them to farm. They must be gradually converted into farming populations."

Deng Zhi next to him smiled and said, "Governor Ma is right. In fact, the key is to guide interests. As far as I know, the taxes of the Huns are also heavy. Ordinary herders have to pay more than half of the new cattle and sheep every year. In addition, men have to send troops to fight, and women have to go to the tribe's family to serve, and the exploitation is also heavy. Once we implement light taxes and levies, the Huns can get more benefits for the Han people and live a better life. I believe they will no longer want to go back to the grassland, then open churches, promote farming technology, and gradually immigrate from the Central Plains and encourage intermarriage. At most fifty years later, these Huns will be completely sinicized."

Liao Hua nodded, "I understand."

At this time, a soldier from the tent reported: "Report to the governor, the scout of the detective has returned."

Ma Chao immediately ordered: "Let him in"

After a moment, a scout army rushes into the tent and kneels down on one knee to report: "Report to the Governor, we have found the Yellow River Ferry, just ten miles northeast of ours."
Chapter completed!