Rewind to a day ago.

That is, the day after Feng Shu, the general of Chenggao Pass, took the letter of Zhu Hai, the general of the Chenggao Army, and acted as a messenger to deliver a letter to Zhao Hongrun, a team of escorting grain and grass slowly set off from Chenggao Pass and headed in the direction of Gong and Ru.

The general who led the troops was called Zhou Kui, a general at the level of General Chenggaoguan.

It stands to reason that there is no need for a general like Zhou Kui to escort grain and grass in person, and it is enough to send a Quhou and a partial general at will, but this time the grain transportation task is a little special, and it was Zhu Hai, the general of Chenggao Pass, who personally summoned Zhou Kui to him and appointed him personally.

The grain transport team consisted of 2,000 Chenggao soldiers and more than 300 grain trucks.

Perhaps in the eyes of the uninformed soldiers, these grain trucks were full of grain carrying the grain of the merchant army and the Dangshan army, and only the general Zhou Kui knew that their grain transport team, there was not a grain on those grain trucks, and those rice bags were stuffed with the grain husks that Chenggaoguan originally intended to feed the horses, that is, the chaff.

"Will the Qiang people and the Shan people in Gong and Yu really come to attack our grain army?"

Straddled on the mount, Zhou Kui's face was cloudy.

As a general of Chenggao Pass guarding the western frontier of Wei State, he actually knew a lot about the Gong and Yu tribes in the west of Chenggao Pass.

After all, the cavalry of Chenggao Pass used to go out of the pass to inspect the surrounding area to see if any tribes of the Qian people who were hostile to their Wei State had migrated here.

But for the Qiang and the Qiang tribes, the soldiers and generals of Chenggao Pass and the other side are well water and do not interfere with the river water, even if they sometimes happen to meet with the other party's sentinels, the two sides will change the direction very tacitly, as if they didn't see each other.

Therefore, for the generals of Chenggao Pass, the Sanchuan tribes in the Gong and Yu areas are the kind of people of Sanchuan who are more friendly to their Wei State, and it stands to reason that they will not assist the Qian people and start a war with their Wei State.

However, in the past, the situation that the well water did not interfere with the river water was shattered with the entry of Sima An, the general of the Dangshan Army.

After all, there have been rumors in the land of Sanchuan that there is an army of Wei that massacres the people of Sanchuan, defeats several tribes, kills all the men in the tribe, and leaves only hundreds of howling and painful women.

Therefore, it is not incomprehensible if the Sanchuan tribes in the Gong and Yu areas were in a mood of sadness for the death of rabbits and foxes, and assisted the Qianjiao tribes in their attempt to kill the Wei army that had caused a massacre on their land.

After all, this is human nature, Zhou Kui can understand it.

However, if you start from the perspective of being a Wei person, Zhou Kui can't accept this possibility calmly.

Whether it is selfish or partial, once those Sanchuan tribes really make a move to be enemies of the Wei State, then Zhou Kui, like the vast majority of Wei people, will call those people 'Yin Rong' and regard them as enemies!

As a general of the Wei State, although he will not pursue any remarks of "slaughtering those who are not of my race" like General Sima An, at least he must ensure the interests of his country, which is the obligation of a soldier of the Wei State!

“Yu——”

With a shout, a cavalryman in charge of exploring the way ahead grabbed the reins and slowly stopped in front of Zhou Kui.

"General." The cavalryman clenched his fists and said with an anxious expression: "Ahead...... Something is wrong. ”

"What's wrong?" Zhou Kui asked.

I saw that this person hesitated for a moment, and said in a low voice: "In the mountain col ahead, there is a group of soldiers and horses of the Sanchuan tribe stationed a camp between the passes. ”

The so-called "pass" refers to the natural passage between hills, and the armies of both sides often use the tactics of conquering and garrisoning the pass to achieve certain strategic goals, such as blocking the enemy's range of activities, cutting off the enemy's food routes, and so on.

Next to him, a Qu Hou under Zhou Kui heard about it and asked in surprise: "What the hell are those Qiang people and the Shan people doing?" Are they holding some kind of ritual? …… General, do you want to negotiate? ”

『……』

Zhou Kui was silent when he heard this.

Indeed, the people of Sanchuan often block the road because of some festivals, similar to the custom of "sacrificing heaven and earth" in the Wei State, to be honest, it is not an unusual thing, but blocking the road at this moment will inevitably make people reverie.

After a long time, Zhou Kui said in a deep voice: "The team continues to move forward, preparing to negotiate with the Qiang people or the Qiang people. …… Be vigilant and watch out for attacks. ”

"Beware of sneak attacks?" The Qu Hou was stunned when he heard this, and asked puzzledly, "Why did they attack my Chenggao army?" ”

It's no wonder that this Quhou can't understand, after all, in the past, the Chenggao army and the Qiang and Qiang people on the west side of Chenggao Pass have always been well water and do not interfere with river water.

"There's nothing wrong with being careful."

Zhou Kui couldn't explain to the generals, and said vaguely: "After all, the behavior of the Dangshan army in Sanchuan is difficult to guarantee that the other party will not be angry with my Chenggao army." ”

"Oh, that's right." The Qu Hou nodded suddenly, and was convinced.

The Chenggao army, which was transporting grain, slowly moved forward, about two or three miles away, and Zhou Kui really saw that at the mountain pass in the distance, there was a large number of people from the three rivers who had built a camp like a pass.

Moreover, this group of people seemed to have already learned of the arrival of their Chenggao army, and one by one they came out of the felt tent in the camp and stood at the entrance of the camp, looking at them with different expressions.

"Not only the passes, but also the mountains on both sides are also stationed with the armies of the two tribes......

As Zhou Kui approached, he carefully observed the hill opposite.

"The Wei army in front, stop!"

A loud voice sounded in the Yinrong tribe at the pass, Zhou Kui took a look, and only then did he find that it was a middle-aged man who was shouting a sheepskin jacket that was obviously much more oily than the rest of the tribesmen.

If nothing else, this middle-aged man must be the "leader" or even "leader" of some tribe.

The so-called "leader" refers to the person in the leading position in the Sanchuan tribe, whose status is similar to that of the Wei side of the "general", "official", etc., and can be regarded as the leader of the affairs of the tribe directly, such as hunting, fighting, etc.;

The "leader" refers to the patriarch of the tribe, which is generally only a verbal role, and the specific tasks are entrusted to the "leaders" within the tribe.

But what is certain is that any "leader" has considerable rights.

No, Zhou Kui, who noticed this, did not rashly make enemies with the other party, and asked the soldiers under his command to stop advancing, and shouted to the other party in the Mandarin language: "I don't know which tribe Your Excellency is a friendly neighbor, why do you want to block the way of my Chenggao army?" ”

The middle-aged man was not surprised that Zhou Kui, who was born in the Chenggao army, could speak their language, because the Wei people or the people of Sanchuan who lived in the area of Chenggao, Gong, Luo, and Hu actually generally understood each other's language, after all, there was not a lot of contact between the two sides in the past, and the question was only whether the language of the other party's country or race was smooth.

For example, this middle-aged man, he just said it in Wei Chinese, but the words were not very clear.

"For some reason, we have temporarily sealed off this place, so please return."

It may be that seeing that Zhou Kui could speak their language and speak it relatively smoothly, the middle-aged man changed back to talking in his native language.

"Why are you blocking this area?" Zhou Kui asked.

"This is my internal affair, and I forgive you for not revealing it." The middle-aged man replied.

Hearing this answer, Zhou Kui frowned, at this moment he was already sure that the blockade of this place by these people of the Liang and Qiang tribes was to cut off the grain and grass of the Shang Shui Army and the Dangshan Army, and did not allow the Cheng Gao Army to continue to transport grain and grass to the first two.

"In that case......

Zhou Kui's eyes flashed with a hint of coldness, fleeting.

He shouted loudly: "Can you be accommodating, our army is in a hurry to transport grain and grass to our army, and we can't afford to delay." ”

Hearing this, the middle-aged man's face changed slightly with the people of the Qiang tribe and the people of the Qiang tribe nearby, and they seemed to be talking in a low voice.

It didn't take long to see the middle-aged man looking at Zhou Kui and saying with a complicated expression: "I'm sorry, the patriarchs of all parties have made a decision not to allow any Wei people to set foot in the land of my three rivers again!" …… Leave this food behind, and I'll let you go!" Otherwise......"

After that, there was a commotion in the camp of Qianyi, and a group of soldiers and horses rushed out of the camp and killed the Chenggao army led by Zhou Kui without saying anything.

When Zhou Kui saw it, he immediately shouted: "Enemy attack!" Enemy attack! Remove! Remove! ”

The more than 2,000 Cheng Gao soldiers under his command were stunned when they heard this, and said in their hearts: Withdraw? The grain that was transported to the Dangshan Army and the Shangshui Army was given to these Dangshan people and Shan people for nothing?

It's no wonder, after all, the Wei Guoshi who was present was in the pawn, and only the general Zhou Kui knew what was in those rice bags.

"Withdraw!"

At the sound of an order, the 2,000 Chenggao army quickly retreated.

However, the army of the two tribes continued to chase relentlessly, and a melee ensued between the two sides.

At this time, it was reflected that Zhou Kui, the general, was personally in charge, and he was seen commanding his soldiers to form a formation to resist the enemy army, while retreating towards the nearby mountains and forests.

After all, the Karma army in front of him was mostly cavalry, which was not conducive to fighting in the mountains and forests.

As a result of Zhou Kui's voluntary retreat, this mixed army won the battle without much effort, although the losses on both sides were not very large.

"(Ethnic language) Ha! As rumored, the Wei people bullied the weak and feared the hard, and there was nothing remarkable. ”

"(Ethnic language) According to this, we are actually quite strong, huh?"

"(Ethnic language) Hahaha, if they knew this, why should they be afraid of the Chenggao Pass of the Wei State?"

The mixed army of the two tribes laughed as they retreated, and rejoiced in their victory.

On the side of the pass, the middle-aged man who had just spoken to General Zhou Kui looked at the fleeing Cheng Gao army with a look of astonishment, as well as the team of grain trucks full of grain that was easily abandoned.

『……』

Frowning, the middle-aged man walked over to one of the grain trucks, took out a sharp knife hidden in his boot, and made a cut in the rice bag.

He then reached into the rice sack, but accidentally grabbed a handful of chaff.

This ...... Do you say ......"

Looking at the chaff in his hand, the middle-aged man's eyes flickered, and a little horror appeared on his face.

Suddenly, his expression changed greatly, he suddenly threw the chaff in his hand to the ground, turned around and shouted sharply: "Quick, quickly send someone to inform the tribal patriarchs, the Wei people have learned of our intentions, and are about to launch an unprecedented offensive against our Sanchuan!" (To be continued.) )