"Guan Yu's offensive is too fierce, he has already relied on that strange and powerful catapult to smash through our five camp walls, and Jing Yi has no good news in the south, it is estimated that he did not kill the Han army after smuggling, right? How can this battle be fought? ”

On the third day after Li Su informed Guan Yu of the military situation on the southern front, in the Jianning County Guard Mansion in Wei County, E Shun and Meng Xin, who were discussing matters on behalf of Yue Li, were overwhelmed by the battle situation on the northern front.

After passing the concave waist pass, until the last dozens of miles of mountain roads before entering the Weixian Basin, the South Central Coalition Army was originally fortified layer by layer, and camped walls and fences everywhere. wants to use the narrow terrain to drag down the consumption and stretch the long-term Guan Yu army food road.

However, in the face of a small number of catapults, coupled with the onslaught of Gao Shun's trap camp and other Han soldiers equipped with iron armor, the narrow terrain of "many people and one side cannot rush up" has become a sad place for Eshun and Meng Xin to swallow the bitter fruit again and again.

They had no 10,000 or 20,000 men, but they couldn't surround Guan Yu's four or five thousand men, and finally had to retreat again and again. But even if it is put into the Weixian Basin, Guan Yu can be surrounded and beaten at the mouth of the valley, and in the absence of Jing Yi's main force, can the two of them beat Guan Yu in the field?

The number is four times that of Guan Yu, but the weapons are weak, and the disadvantage of not having iron armor is too obvious. Guan Yu's one or two thousand men have iron armor, and it is not impossible to fight more than 10,000 unarmored barbarians in Nanzhong in the field.

Just after another day of defeat, E Shun and Meng Xin were at a loss, and an opportunity to end their suffering finally came.

"General, Guan Yu sent someone to release a group of prisoners, it seems that ...... There is something to bring to the general. "The junior colonel in the army reported a piece of information.

It turned out that there was a group of about 100 barbarian prisoners who appeared outside the north gate of Wei County, and they were released by Guan Yu and returned through the barbarian defense line.

E Shun and Meng Xin looked at each other and smiled awkwardly, and each went to the city gate to interrogate the prisoners on their own side.

As soon as Meng Xin received the captives, he was washed over by a bunch of information that hit his own morale.

"King, Guan Yu asked us to come back and tell the king, saying yes...... Behind the smuggling attack on Dianchi Lake, it was Li Su Li Boya, he had the help of ghosts and gods, he could ward off poison, 200 miles of Lushui, 600 miles of Tushui, and there was no damage when he came from afar.

He also ordered us to bring back a few dzi from the poisonous country, and he said that the king had lived in Yongchang and Jianning for many years, and he should have seen and known these things many times and knew that these things were treasured in the largest Buddhist temple in Dianchi County. Now the six counties of Dianchi have been convinced, fearful and under the jurisdiction of Li Su.

Jing Yi was just dying, afraid that the news would reach Wei County, so he personally led his troops south to Tonglao to intercept it, but a few days ago, he was also defeated by Zhang Fei and Li Su and returned to Tonglao County, only because of the desperate blockade, the king was kept in the dark......"

Meng Xin's hands trembled a little when he heard this, he wanted to pull out his saber and behead this guy who shook the army's heart as soon as he heard the first two sentences, but it seemed that there was a devil in his heart who was encouraging him to listen.

This is also a poor man, he should not have deliberately shaken the morale of the army, but he was frightened by seeing many miracles in the enemy camp, so he worked so hard......

"Although we are in Nanzhong, we have also heard of the deceit of Li Su, who can use the help of ghosts and gods to ward off poison for thousands of miles...... Could it be providence? ”

Meng Xin was doubting his life and sighed in his heart, and the captive took out another letter and carefully presented it: "King, I can't read, and I don't understand some words, Guan Yu asked me to hand this letter to the king." ”

Meng Xin himself was not very literate, and after a few glances, he couldn't read well, so he had to call a Han staff member around him and let him read it.

The result of the Han staff's reading was naturally to boast about Li Su's "historical record", saying that he had single-handedly entered the enemy camp and made Qiu Liju, the king of Wuhuan in the three counties, defect and remove his armor to surrender with Lilly, and let Qiu Liju behead the puppet emperor Zhang Ju in a word.

He also said that he asked Lao Qiangqu Shan Yu to send troops to aid Han with a letter, and personally came forward in a few words to let Yu Fu Luoshan Yu give up the base of the state and move to Qiangdi-

Ask Meng to taste Meng Xin and think about how their bhikshu forces dwelled in Fuluo, these Wuhuan and Xiongnu Shan Yu. Now that Li Shu has succeeded in circumventing the rear, if the return is slower, it will not be their turn, and they are only worthy of being an existence like Zhang Ju's head.

At the end of the letter, Guan Yu also emphasized: Li Su's original strategy was to only accept the part that came to surrender first, and there was no need to give a chance if it was late. But Guan Yu is more merciful than Li Su, and if you allow you to surrender on the first day, both sides will have a way to live, and if you miss today, then strictly implement Li Su's requirements, and only accept the surrender that comes first, and will attack the party that comes late as a vote.

Anyway, now that the Han army has taken the official warehouses of the counties around the Dianchi Basin to store grain, if necessary, it can further increase its troops in Nanzhong at any time, and there is no need to limit the total strength to a mere 10,000 people due to the constraints of supply difficulties.

The barbarian king and the barbarian king are still relatively easy to have a sense of substitution, and Meng Xin still felt very face-saving when he heard that his eldest brother was compared with those Shan Yu who were dominant in the north in Guan Yu's letter. In addition, every item in the letter of persuasion was very reasonable, Meng Xin was suspicious, and ordered all his soldiers to prepare weapons and test Eshun's tone.

After half a burnt incense, Meng Xin saw Eshun, who was also on guard, on the city tower, and both sides didn't know how to speak, but it could be seen that they were both on guard The other party suddenly infighting and killing the killer.

In the end, Meng Xin, who still had a little more knowledge, took the initiative to make his words clear: "Guan Yu said that you and I are willing to surrender today, and we can accept them all, and if you miss today, you won't have this opportunity." ”

E Shun breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly seconded the proposal: "Then you and I will go out of the city together, go to Guan Yu's camp to surrender, and no one wants to stay in the city alone and block the city gate!" ”

Meng Xin: "Okay, I will detain my staff and deputy generals with you, and you will also detain all the staff and deputy generals with me, until Guan Yu's camp surrenders, and then exchange it back, everyone can rest assured, how about it?" ”

Eshun: "Just ...... That's it! ”

The two of them still have a total of 16,700 troops, so they decided to surrender to Guan Yu, who only had more than 4,000 people.

The two sides restrained each other and cautiously came to the valley mouth at the northern end of the Weixian Basin, and then stopped in the field, first sent scouts to submit the surrender letter to Guan Yu, and then withdrew the camp guards twenty miles along the valley, let Guan Yu come over, and surrendered again on the plain.

Guan Yu knew that after the forced surrender was successful, he did not dare to be careless, and was afraid that there would be a risk of deceitful surrender to lure the enemy, so he let the soldiers be on strict guard along the way, and divided hundreds of troops to hold the key points every time he passed the fortifications that were camped on the road, ensuring the back road, and then slowly passed through the mountain road and entered the basin where the county seat was located.

Meng Xin and E Shun had been waiting respectfully, and when they saw Guan Yu, they hurriedly bowed their hands and saluted: "General Guan, we were all bewitched by Jing Yi, and were deceived by his 'After Jianning is destroyed, the Han army will also sweep Yuewang and Yongchang', and mistakenly touched the general's tiger power." I also hope that the general will allow us to return to our homeland and return to the peasants. We are willing to hand over our weapons. ”

This is more or less a cautious game, hoping that Guan Yu will release the captive, after all, he was surrounded in such a valley, but he couldn't run if he wanted to, so he was forced to surrender directly. Otherwise, they might just scatter and go back to their hometown, where to use Guan Yu to give permission.

Guan Yu immediately pointed at the sword: "Let your soldiers put down their weapons and retreat five miles first." When I take over the county, I will agree to you. ”

Meng Xin and E Shun did not resist, and watched Guan Yu occupy Zhiwei County, Jianning County, which was a full expression of their sincerity in surrender.

Guan Yu breathed a sigh of relief, set up a banquet to invite the generals, and told them the specific preferential conditions: "My brother General Zhengxi has no intention of enslaving the people of Nanzhong, and after pacifying the counties, he can promise that according to the old practice, first, he will not levy the people in other places to bear the conscription, second, he will not collect farmland grain, and third, he will not collect Ding taxes.

I don't care how Jing Yi bewitched the public at the beginning, I can reiterate these three points. However, in the territory of the Han Dynasty, the people should all contribute to the imperial court, otherwise the people of the inland counties will definitely not be satisfied. Therefore, the levies and taxes were replaced by military service, special products, and trade transshipment.

However, General Zhengxi can guarantee that the collection of special products in the future will be absolutely strictly compared to the thirty taxes and one tax, and will never be temporarily increased. If we need more, we will send official caravans in exchange for trade, rather than levy them for free. I hope you will do it yourself, and if anyone doesn't even accept this, the court will destroy its barbarian king and be governed by the officials. ”

Guan Yu's words were also the policy of ruling the border barbarian regions that he had agreed with Liu Bei and Li Su before sending troops, and it was not much different from the consistent restraint measures of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It's just that the traditional collection of specialty luxury goods in the Eastern Han Dynasty is relatively casual and easy to levy.

Guan Yu promised to form a law and announce it to the people, so that everyone knows that not giving room for looting operations is of great benefit to the people.

And what the barbarians need to pay extra is to go to other places to serve as soldiers, and select the strong to serve in the army.

As an aside, Li Su was so regular with Liu Bei Guan Yu at the beginning, and he also learned from the ruling strategy of Zhuge Liang Ping Nanzhong in history - after Meng was captured in later generations, Zhuge Liang withdrew his troops back to Shu, and the requirement for Nanzhong was to be recruited to be a soldier every year, and the "Wudang Flying Army" of Shu Han in the later period relied on the source of troops in Nanzhong to maintain the flow of operation.

E Shun and Meng Xin couldn't make the decision, but said: "When I go back, I will tell the king." ”

Guan Yu's eyes narrowed: "General E, Gao Yi is willing to agree, then it is best, if you refuse to agree, you can be the captain of Yue Wang, and the court will send another Yue Wei Taishou!"

Also, since you have surrendered, I will also give you a chance to make meritorious contributions, and do a good job of the punishment that can be exempted from disarming - you will divide your troops and go south on the same day, and follow me to attack Tonglao County, where Jing Yi is still resisting. As long as Jing Yi is killed, I will allow your entire army to take back your weapons and return to your hometown. After the war, I will only select 3,000 people from among you to enlist in the Han army, and I will pay tribute this year and next. ”

Eshun Mengxin looked at each other, and finally was promised that Eshun, who might actually be in charge of affairs in Yuewang, first relented and expressed his willingness to help be the vanguard cannon fodder.

Anyway, these soldiers were originally high-minded, and they were not his family background, so wouldn't it be better if they couldn't turn back if they were stained with blood.

Guan Yu would not fully trust these barbarian generals, so he left Gao Shun to defend Wei County, and Guan Yu himself only took Huang Quan, who joined the army, to supervise the newly surrendered barbarians to attack the city in the south, and also detained E Shun and Meng Xin himself as hostages in Wei County, and Gao Shun temporarily invited them to drink every day.

Moreover, for the barbarians who surrendered, not all of them were returned with weapons, but only some of them were returned, and the rest were pulled by baggage boats, and they were returned only when the city was about to be attacked.

Five or six days later, Guan Yu finally led his troops south, entered the valley basin where Tonglao County was located, surrounded Jing Yi in the city, and then divided his troops to the south to inform Zhang Fei and Li Su to come to rendezvous. Zhang Li and the others had already been waiting for the day, and immediately went north when they heard the news.

Jing Yi was in the city, and he was dumbfounded again when he saw so many enemy troops besieging the city, and he couldn't figure out why those barbarian reinforcements defected so quickly - Mingming Wei had more food in the county than in Tonglao County, and they had enough to eat until the spring famine.

At this point, there is nothing more to say, Li Su Guan Yu ordered the scene to build a few wooden donkeys to rush the car and dig the wall, and soon launched the siege - Tonglao, this kind of broken county, a foot high earthen wall, can not make a catapult at all, with a wooden donkey against the wall to block the poisonous arrows above, the soldiers use shovels and shovels to dig a little bit at the bottom is a big pit, it does not take half a day to dig out a big hole.

The reason why they didn't attack the city before was just because the troops were too small, even if they broke the city wall and played street battles, they might not be able to win, after all, the infantry on Li Su and Zhang Fei's side were light infantry who crossed mountains and mountains, and the ironclad rate was not higher than Guan Yu's.

Now that the front-line strength of the Han army is close to 8,000 people, and there are newly surrendered barbarian cannon fodder, what waves can Jing Yi afford?

As the walls were dug out, the vanguard cannon fodder brutes swarmed in, showing their loyalty to their new masters.

Before the war, Guan Yu had already announced the reward: to serve as a soldier in the Han army, the whole family can be given a field, and it is a fertile field around Dianchi Lake, and the whole family and two relatives, up to five Zhengding, ten women and children can be exempted from tax and pay special products.

In addition, the salaries and rations of the standing soldiers of the Han army are not bad, although they cannot all be as exaggerated as the trapped camp.

These days, after the publicity, the barbarians also know that they are treated well with the Han generals, and they can liberate their families and no longer be exploited by the cave master - under the barbarian king, most of the soldiers' families are still slaves, and slavery is still widespread in the Southern Barbarians.

In order not to irritate E Shun and Meng Xin, Guan Yu also said that only 3,000 barbarians will be recruited at most, so there will naturally be a threshold for who can be and who can't.

Of course, considering that Jing Yi's troops would not necessarily fight to the end, and Guan Yu and Li Su also wanted to stop the trend of killing good people and risking their merits, in addition to winning the first rank, they also set other military merit rewards, from the first to the capture of prisoners.

After just half a day's rush and killing, Jing Yi's troops were slaughtered in pieces, and the soldiers of Jianning County, who were divided and encircled, especially those newly recruited and temporarily mobilized, surrendered in formation.

Jing Yi himself knew that he was guilty, after all, he instigated other counties to oppose Liu Bei, and also borrowed barbarian soldiers to keep his soil emperor rich and noble, Liu Bei would definitely not let him go, so he decisively broke himself off after being surrounded and slashed. Captain Cai Fei was also killed in the chaos.

Changshi Su Yun and Jun Cheng Li Mao surrendered very shamefully in the chaos of the army. After Li Su roughly interrogated their identities, he cut them down and brought them back to Qianwei County, which was regarded as sparing their lives.

By the beginning of November, all the counties of Jianning County had successively submitted to Liu Bei's rule.