The guards got Zhou Fei's permission to set up the Qiang envoy out of the big tent.

The Qiang envoys kept begging for mercy, but no one paid attention.

Zhou Fei and the others laughed, and the Qiang people would also be soft.

The guards were outside the tent and cut off the nose and ear of the messenger and gouged out one eye.

The Qiang messenger screamed loudly and wailed in pain.

The wound doctor who accompanied the army stopped the bleeding and bandaged it; The guards then threw him out of the barracks and allowed the Qiang envoys to flee back to Gaonu City.

His face was no longer recognizable, and if it weren't for his clothing, voice, and speech indicating that he was a Qiang, and the scepter in his hand indicating that he was a messenger of the Qiang, the defenders would have shot him long ago; Despite his explanation, the defenders did not dare to let him into the city.

After the chief of the city came and identified it, the defenders carried the messenger to the city wall with rattan baskets.

As soon as the envoy reached the city wall, he began to cry out about the arrogance of the Han people, and his words made the people on the city wall tremble.

The patriarch was very annoyed, and slowly ordered him to shut his mouth and let him be taken to the council hall.

Several patriarchs were skeptical about the news brought back by the envoy, they knew the Han people, and the reputation of the Han high-ranking officials was the most important, if it was not for the envoy who said the wrong thing and angered the Han people, the Han people would not have embarrassed the envoy and humiliated their reputation, and the envoy must have been at fault first.

The patriarch said: "Everyone, since the Han army is not threatened, then we must be prepared for a hard battle. ”

"If the Han army is angered by resistance, the slaughter of the city is not impossible."

"For hundreds of years, we have made small fights, and the Han court can still tolerate it, if we go too far, once the Han court gets serious, we will not be able to escape the fate of defeat, their overall strength is too strong, and it is difficult for us to fight."

"Why don't we go to Beigong Boyu?"

"We can't get out of the city, and the Han army won't let us leave safely."

"Beigong Boyu could not escape the fate of defeat, and the Han army gathered more troops to go to Liangzhou to suppress it."

Tens of thousands of patriarchs discussed for a long time, but they couldn't come up with a reasonable plan.

Recently, the high platform outside the city has been significantly higher every day, and the distance from the city is getting closer and closer, so that the Qiang people in the city live in great fear every day, and the patriarchs are also worried about this.

In the end, the patriarch of the Qiang tribe in the north said: "We have been fighting with the Han for hundreds of years, we have surrendered, we surrendered, the Han people have long been accustomed to it, and according to my understanding of them, as long as we surrender, for our own prestige, the Han army will definitely accept us, this is our only way to live." ”

Compared with the Beidi Qiang, the tribes of Xian Lingqiang were smaller, more scattered, and had less experience in confronting the Han army, so they adopted the advice of the Beidi Qiang chief, surrendered to the Han army, and sent envoys to the Han army again.

The Qiang envoy arrived again, and Zhou Fei felt that the Qiang people must be scared. The messenger explained his intentions, held the letter of the Qiang patriarch in both hands, and respectfully presented it.

After reading the letter, Zhou Fei ordered the messenger to be placed in a tent to wait, while he convened everyone to discuss the matter.

Everyone went through the letter first.

Letters are written in Chinese characters.

Guan Yu said: "Prince, our high platform is almost completed, victory is in sight, and we can't accept their surrender." ”

Song Xian wanted to establish military merit, and was younger, preferred to kill, and was unwilling to accept the surrender of the Qiang, and supported: "Barbarians cannot be trusted, they must have a conspiracy." ”

Xu Huang retorted: "After they surrendered, they let us knead it, how can they talk about a conspiracy?" If we accept their surrender, we will end the battle in the southern part of the county without casualties, or will we gather their warriors and strengthen our strength as we have done before? ”

Zhou Fei was also inclined to peaceful co-optation, not only to obtain a lot of wealth and reduce his own casualties, but he was even more reluctant to give too many rewards to the Huns and Wuhuan people because of this, so that their strength would be strengthened, which was an act of the enemy; Zhou Fei made a decision, and everyone had to comply.

When the Qiang envoy learned of the Han army's decision, he was very excited and hurriedly returned to the city to deliver the news.

Several Qiang patriarchs were overjoyed, and the Qiang people escaped again.

In order to express the sincerity of the Qiang people, the previous envoy was beheaded, and another envoy was sent to send his head to the Han army camp to appease the anger of the Han people and discuss the specific matters of surrender; Together with all the Han slaves, they were released out of the city, hoping to befriend the Han officers; They have the most prestige, and if so, they will definitely not embarrass the Qiang people in the future.

Zhou Fei was overjoyed to increase the number of strong Han Chinese by 6,000 at once, but he was also worried about the lack of food, so he ordered to speed up the transportation of grain and increase the supply of meat for officers and soldiers.

All 6,000 men were used as infantry, and they were to be selected and sorted later.

The envoy consulted carefully with the scribes sent by Zhou Fei to determine the details of the surrender, and the scribes promised that they would be placed separately, but that some of them would be given priority to serve in the army and be treated the same as Han officers and soldiers.

This move made the Qiang envoys very happy, isn't this the power they have not won for a hundred years?

The next thing was simple, the Qiang people in the city laid down their weapons and walked out of the city according to the tribe.

All the Qiang chiefs and their families were taken away and separated from their tribes.

First, the best cavalry of each tribe was selected, and their families were selected to form new tribes and tribes.

Guan Yu has a lot of experience in handling this matter, so he will arrange this move.

Each tribe had 50 households, and each tribe had only 10 households, so the establishment was reduced and the size of each tribe was reduced to facilitate later management.

Subsequently, Zhou Fei accepted Guan Yu's suggestion and asked the 6,000 infantry to go to each Qiang tribe to choose a wife, and after that, they settled in Shangjun.

Some people are happy that they can finally start a family, while others give up this power.

After that, the clerical officials were in charge, and the old, weak, wounded, and disabled were selected to conspire to dispose of them, saving a lot of food and facilitating the management of the remaining Qiang.

There are about 15,000 remaining Qiang people, who will be escorted back to Xiayang City according to the tribe, and will be sold as slaves in the future, which can also save food and reduce transportation consumption in Gaonu City.

The scribes and Zhou Fei's guards took over Gaonu City, and the harvest was very rich, and everyone was overjoyed. What made Zhou Fei happiest was that a large amount of grain, forage and other burdens and wealth such as gold and silver were seized in the city, as well as a large number of cattle, sheep, horses and other livestock; With the seized grain, Zhou Fei was no longer worried about the lack of food.

The Wuhuan and Hun cavalry spent a lot of time and hard work to build the high platform, but they did not achieve any credit, and they were very depressed, but they did not dare to express their dissatisfaction.

The Han army became stronger and stronger, and formed the Qiang Yicong cavalry and the Wuhuan Yicong cavalry respectively to compete with the Xiongnu cavalry, and the Huns must also be cautious.

Zhou Fei ordered that the land on the south bank of the water and the Huan people be appointed as Yucheng; The Qiang tribes, on the other hand, were scattered to the counties of Shangjun for easy management.

The army was stationed in the city of Gaonu in preparation for the north.