After Kui Chun surrendered in Jicheng, no one found Wang Yuan, and it was not until more than a month later that Luoyang got the news about Wang Yuan, and it turned out that Wang Yuan was no longer in Jicheng, but ran to Chengdu.

Before Kui Huan's death, there were so many civil and military ministers under his command, no one expected that after Kui Huan died of illness and Kui Chun surrendered, only Wang Yuan was the only one, who refused to surrender alive or dead, ran to Gongsun Shu's side, and continued to be the enemy of Luoyang.

Wang Yuan is a person with average ability, and his ability to lead troops to fight is not very powerful, but when it comes to loyalty to Kui Huan, Wang Yuan is definitely second to none.

In Wang Yuan's view, forcing Kui Chun to surrender to Liu Xiu is tantamount to forcing Kui Chun to die, and Wang Yuan is very shameful about the practices of Zhou Zong, Xingxun, Zhao Hui, Gou Yu and others.

Facts have proved that Wang Yuan's speculation is not wrong at all.

After Kui Chun surrendered, it did not last long, and a few years later, he was finally killed on the charge of colluding with Qianghu.

As for whether it is a real collusion or a fake collusion, then no one knows.

Recently, Liu Xiu has been happy to have a lot of events, Kui Chun surrendered, the battle of Pinglong was a complete victory, Yin Lihua gave birth to a son for him, and Liu Xiu named him Liu Cang.

Soon after Yin Lihua gave birth to Liu Xiu's fifth son, Guo Shengtong became pregnant again.

The spread of the royal family is also a great joy for the imperial court, and the foundation of the imperial court can be stabilized when there is a successor to the Son of Heaven.

During this time, it was supposed to be a happy event, but not long after, the news from Liangzhou ruined Liu Xiu's good mood.

Xianling Qiang, Wuxi Qiang and other Qiang people, joined forces to invade Longxi and Jincheng in Liangzhou, and burned and looted in the two counties of Longxi and Jincheng, and the people of the two counties were not able to make a living.

The Qiang people are not one tribe, but composed of many tribes, one tribe and one tribe.

The Qiang people also invaded Liangzhou before and were defeated by Feng Yi and Niu Han, and the Qiang people who invaded Liangzhou this time were not the same clan as the previous batch of Qiang people, among which the Xianling Qiang people had the largest number and the strongest strength.

At the same time as reporting to Luoyang, Lai She also recommended to the imperial court to let Ma aid Pingqiang.

The relationship between Lai She and Ma Yuan has always been very good, and when Liu Xiu and Kui Huan had not torn their faces, the two had a close personal relationship.

In addition, Ma Yuan is indeed very capable and good at leading troops into battle.

After Liu Xiu received Laishe's letter, he didn't think much about it, and accepted Laishe's proposal.

Now Lai She is a celebrity in front of Liu Xiu, after he took over the Western Expeditionary Army, he conquered Luomenju in one fell swoop, which directly led to the surrender of Kui Chun's troops, it can be said that in the later stage of the Pinglong War, Lai She's contribution was the greatest.

Soon, Liu Xiu issued an order to seal Ma Yuan as the Taishou of Longxi, and to treat the Qiang troubles in Longxi and Jincheng counties.

After Ma Yuan took office, he really didn't shame the person who recommended him, nor did he disappoint Liu Xiu.

Ma Yuan, together with Ma Cheng and Niu Han, led the Han army and defeated the Qiang people in Lintao.

In this battle, the Han army killed more than 1,000 people, captured tens of thousands of cattle, horses and sheep, and piled up mountains of grain.

After that, Ma Yuan led the troops to advance westward, and when they reached the border of Liangzhou, they started a big battle with the Qiang people.

In this battle, the Han army won another great victory, capturing more than 8,000 Qiang people of all ethnic groups.

This is a great victory, the Qiang people are good at fighting, and they have a fierce style, and they can capture 8,000 Qiang people, but it is extremely rare.

After capturing so many prisoners and putting them back, they may continue to be enemies with the imperial court, and if they are not released back, they will continue to be imprisoned, and they will consume their own food.

You must know that since Liu Xiu ascended the throne, the implementation of a low tax of 30 taxes and 1 has always been the biggest and most headache problem plaguing the Luoyang Imperial Court.

Ma Yuan, the Taishou of Longxi, although he captured a lot of food in the battle against the Qiang people, there was no need to waste food on the Qiang captives.

After some consideration, Ma Yuan sent a letter to Laishe, asking Laishe's opinion on what to do with the 8,000 Qiang people who were captured.

Soon, Lai She wrote a reply letter to Ma Yuan, in which Lai She quoted a famous sentence of Chen Tang: It is advisable to hang the barbarian mansion on Touyang Street to show thousands of miles.

Those who commit strong men will be punished even if they are far away! You should cut off the heads of the enemy and hang them on the street where the barbarians live, so as to tell them that whoever dares to invade our Han country, no matter how far you run, our Han army will kill you completely.

This reply letter mainly expressed two meanings to Ma Yuan, the first meaning is that all the captives of the Qiang people can be killed, which is nothing to worry about; The second meaning is to clearly tell Ma Yuan, don't think that if you expel the Qiang people from Longxi and Jincheng counties, even if the battle is over, you should lead your troops to attack the Qiang land and give the Qiang people a painful lesson, so as to achieve the purpose of deterrence.

After receiving the letter from Laishe, Ma Yuan immediately understood the meaning of Laishe.

Soon after, Ma Yuan ordered that the captured 8,000 Qiang people were captured, all of whom were beheaded, and later, Ma Yuan led the Han army to kill out of Longxi and attack the Qiang land.

The Han army led by Ma Yuan entered the Qiang land with great fanfare, which was unbearable for the various ethnic groups in the Qiang land, although there were contradictions between their various ethnic groups, but when the menacing Han army came on the opposite side, the Qiang people united to form a coalition army of tens of thousands of people.

Ma Yuan led Niu Han and Ma Cheng generals to join forces with the Qiang people to start a big battle in Qiang.

In this battle, the Han army once again defeated the Qiang people, killed thousands of Qiang people, the Qiang people were defeated, and the Han army captured countless livestock and grain.

At this time, the Han army has penetrated deep into the hinterland of the Qiang people, and if they advance further, they don't know where to fight, and if they continue to fight, the Qiang people will definitely gather more soldiers and horses to fight to the death with their own side.

After thinking about it, Ma Yuan believed that this battle had caused enough deterrence to the Qiang people, and there was no need for his side to fight with the Qiang people to break the net and form an inextricable mortal enemy, which was probably not what the imperial court was willing to see.

He ordered the whole army to stop chasing and killing the Qiang people and retreat to Longxi.

At this point, the battle of Pingqiang, which was dominated by Ma Yuan and commanded by Lai Hui behind the scenes, came to an end.

In this battle, the Han army really beat the Qiang people enough, and also scared enough, so far, Longxi Taiping, Jincheng Taiping, the Qiang people no longer dare to easily invade Liangzhou.

Because the people of Longxi and Jincheng were tossed by the Qiang people, and there were many displaced people, they came to suggest horse aid, open warehouses and release grain, and relieve the people of the two counties.

Ma Yuan heeded Laishe's advice and distributed the grain seized from the Qiang people to the people of the two counties.

This move not only allowed the situation in Longxi and Jincheng counties to quickly stabilize, but also greatly won the hearts and minds of the people in the two places.

The battle of Pingqiang led by Ma Yuan, as well as the subsequent opening of the warehouse to release grain, the news was transmitted back to Luoyang, and Liu Xiu was overjoyed when he heard it, thinking that Ma Yuan was a capable person who could not only fight, but also be good at governing the place.

In the imperial court, Liu Xiu was full of praise for Ma Yuan's actions in Longxi and Jincheng.

Seeing that the Son of Heaven was happy, the ministers didn't mind saying a few good words for Ma Yuan to please the Son of Heaven.

At this time, Guangluxun Zhang Zhan lifted the wat board and said loudly: "Your Majesty! ”

Liu Xiu looked at Zhang Zhan and asked with a smile, "What is Guangluxun?" ”

Zhang Zhan said: "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that the west of Poqiang, far away from the imperial court, difficult to govern, and often harassed by the Hu people, the people are not happy, it is better to move the people west of Poqiang to the inland, and the land west of Poqiang can be abandoned!" ”

Poqiang, is a county of Jincheng County, located in the center of Jincheng County, Zhang Zhan means, just draw a line here in Poqiang County, east of Poqiang, still Han soil, and west of Poqiang, simply don't want it, give it to the Qiang people.

Zhang Zhan's words sounded quite shocking, which was equivalent to cutting off half of Jincheng County, but if you think about it carefully, there is also a reason for it.

Jincheng County belongs to the frontier, away from Luoyang, it is indeed very difficult for the imperial court to govern, in addition, Jincheng County borders with the Qiang people, and the Qiang people run into Jincheng County from time to time, burn and loot, the people suffer deeply, and all kinds of production can not be carried out.

It can be said that this land does not help the imperial court in any way, but is still a huge burden for the imperial court.

If it's useless to keep it, it will become a burden, so it's better to cut through the mess quickly and abandon it.

After Zhang Zhan finished speaking, the hall quieted down, everyone looked at each other, and finally looked at Liu Xiu in unison.

Liu Xiu is very respectful of the ancestral system, which includes both the etiquette and the territory of the Western Han Dynasty.

Now that Zhang Zhan proposed to cut Jincheng County in half, the ministers felt that His Majesty would not be too happy to hear his suggestion.

In fact, it is true, Liu Xiu's face did not show annoyance, but his heart was very unhappy.

The previous emperors of the past dynasties were able to hold Jincheng County, how could they be the emperor himself, and he had to cut out half of Jincheng County to the Qiang people?

Why?

Liu Xiu didn't dare to compare himself with Gaozu, but he was confident that he was no worse than the previous emperors after Gaozu, including the second emperor of Wenwu.

Emperor Wen prospered the Han industry, and Emperor Wu expanded the territory, but he Liu Xiu also recovered the Han Dynasty, recaptured the Han Dynasty, and rebuilt the Han foundation.

Besides, now that Ma Yuan has just hit the Qiang people hard, it is just a matter if the imperial court does not plunder the land of the Qiang people, and it has to give up half of Jincheng County to the Qiang people, how can there be such a reason?

Before Liu Xiu could speak, Han Xin came out of the queue and bowed his hand to Liu Xiu and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that Guangluxun is reasonable.

In addition, west of Poqiang to contain a large number of soldiers and horses of the imperial court, and abandon this place, it can greatly save the energy and strength of the imperial court, and hope that Your Majesty will be clear! ”

"Weichen seconded!"

"Weichen seconded!"

After Han Xin finished speaking, several more ministers came out to express their approval.

Liu Xiu looked at the ministers, he didn't react for a while, he didn't know, it turned out that there were so many ministers who advocated giving up the west of Poqiang, Liu Xiu blinked, he had to carefully consider, west of Poqiang, this half of Jincheng County, whether it really caused a heavy burden to the imperial court, and whether the imperial court should really give up this piece of land.

After pondering for a while, Liu Xiu looked at Deng Yu and asked, "What about General Right's opinion?" ”

Deng Yu hesitated.

In fact, whether to give up the west of Poqiang, Deng Yu has no opinion.

If you give up, there is naturally a reason to give up, if you don't give up, there is also a reason not to give up, whether you give up or not, there is no right or wrong, it depends on how the court weighs the pros and cons.

As Zhang Zhan, Han Xin and other ministers said, in the area west of Poqiang, the Qiang people will often come in and harass, and the people will not be able to cultivate and produce at all, and they will not be able to farm the land, so the imperial court will not be able to collect grain, and there will be no taxes to speak of.

And every time the Qiang people invaded, the imperial court could not ignore it, and had to send troops and horses to expel the Qianghu, which naturally greatly consumed the energy and troops of the imperial court.

But if you really want to give up the west of the Qiang to the Qiang people, it will greatly damage the face of the court and the face of the Son of Heaven.

If you want actual benefits, then abandon the west of the Broken Qiang, and if you want to get by on the face, then continue to keep the west of the Broken Qiang.

That's what's at stake anyway.

Deng Yu pondered for a long time and said: "Weichen obeys His Majesty's holy judgment!" ”

Liu Xiudu was almost angry, stroked his forehead, and said, "I need to think about this matter again!" ”

A few days later, Ma Yuan returned to Luoyang from Longxi to return to Liu Xiu.

He was accompanied back to Luoyang by Ma Chengbu, who carried with them a lot of booty taken from the Qiang, including grain, livestock, and some gold, silver, and jewelry.

Liu Xiu received Ma Yuan in the palace, and Liu Xiu praised Ma Yuan's performance in the Battle of Pingqiang.

Ma Yuancheng was terrified, and repeatedly said that in the battle of Pingqiang, the doctor should be the first credit, and he won the victory again and again under the advice of the doctor.

He said that, both right and wrong.

Lai She did give Ma Yuan a lot of suggestions and pointed out the general strategic direction for him, but the tough battle with the Qiang people was fought by Ma Yuan himself, and it had little to do with Lai She.

Seeing that Ma Yuan was not arrogant, but gave the credit to Lai, who did not directly participate in the war, Liu Xiu appreciated Ma Yuan even more.

He immediately mentioned to Ma Yuan the matter of ceding the west of the Qiang to the Qiang people.