Han Sui is a bit difficult to ride a tiger now. There is no way out, from the moment he occupies Guzang and announces Jia Xu's intention to rebel to the outside world, there can only be one survivor between him and the imperial court. He had no choice but to go all the way to the dark. Han Sui overestimated his prestige in Liangzhou, and also underestimated the imperial court's means of buying people's hearts.

An equal attitude of the Qiang and the Han alleviates the possibility of antagonism between the Qiang and the Han. Who doesn't want to live a stable life, there are many rebellions in the northwest, but that is also because of the necessity of survival, if you can get a stable life without having to work hard, even if it is hard, most people will not choose to take up arms.

Han Sui originally thought that he could respond to every call, and it was precisely because of this confidence that he dared to contact Xiqiang Cheriji, but the fact gave Han Sui a slap in the face, in front of the real food of the imperial court, his prestige and empty promises really could not arouse half of the interest of the Qiang people.

Without the support of the Qiang people, Han Sui could not completely control Liangzhou with the men and horses at hand. Han Sui could only retreat to this, first blocking the imperial court's reinforcements from Liangzhou, and then slowly recovering Liangzhou. Fortunately, with Ma Teng as a hostage in his hand, Ma Jiajun did not dare to meet him for the time being. The number one problem that Han Sui needed to solve at the moment was how to keep out the imperial court's reinforcements. As for the interior of Liangzhou, it can only be handed over to Cherrigi for the time being.

However, this idea was immediately overturned by Han Sui after learning that the Son of Heaven Liu Xie was personally driving. According to Han Sui's original idea, he used Cherrigi to control Liangzhou, and then joined forces with himself to defeat the imperial court's reinforcements, and then let Cherrigi deal with the imperial court's expeditionary army, and he led his troops to Chang'an to force the palace, at that time the main force of the imperial court was destroyed, and he had a great grasp of controlling the imperial court in his hands. Unexpectedly, things did not develop as he expected before, and Han Sui's ambition changed from controlling the imperial court to separating Liangzhou, but the peak turned around, and Liu Xie, the son of heaven, took the initiative to send it to the door.

This is a God-given opportunity, capture the thief and capture the king first, if you can catch Liu Xie, the son of heaven, then the court will not have the final say at that time. Han Sui forgot that the greater the profit, the greater the risk. He only thought about what kind of benefits he would bring to himself if he captured the Son of Heaven alive, but he forgot what kind of situation he would face if he didn't catch the Son of Heaven.

In order to ensure that the Son of Heaven could be captured, Han Sui gave up control of the rest of Liangzhou and rushed to Yuzhong with all his might, and at the same time sent a message to Cheriji, bitterly inviting him to join forces with him against the imperial army.

Similar to Han Sui's recent situation, Cherrigi is also a little difficult to ride a tiger now. If you want to be the king of the Qiang people, you must be strong yourself, and you must be able to seek benefits for the Qiang people. Xiqiang is not the emperor of the Han court, and if he can't get huge benefits for the Qiang people, he, the king of Xiqiang, will not be able to sit steadily.

At the beginning of the army, Cherrigi persuaded his people to agree on the grounds that they could take advantage of the Han Chinese, but now they have not grabbed much benefit, and the soldiers and horses have lost a lot. The Han court moved 300,000 Han people into Liangzhou, and in order to settle these Han people, the main cities of Liangzhou underwent a large-scale expansion some time ago. The Qiang people didn't take this matter seriously, but when they were about to rob the Han people, they were depressed to find that the Han people were hiding in the city, and they Qiang people were not good at attacking the city. The addition of 300,000 Han people not only did not provide them with more targets for robbery, but made the Han people's cities more difficult to conquer than before.

In order to settle these Han people, a large amount of grain transported by the imperial court in advance is now hoarded in the city, and in order to protect their families from being harmed by the Qiang people, the original Montenegrin thieves who moved to various cities also built a civilian army under the organization of the government to assist the officials and soldiers to defend the city. The cities of the Han people were tall and strong, and it was difficult for the Qiang people to capture them without the assistance of siege equipment.

The lack of access greatly reduced the prestige of Cheriji in Xiqiang, and in order to maintain the daily expenses of the army, the Qiang people living in Liangzhou suffered from the seedlings. The Qiang people mostly exist in the form of tribes, and it is common for them to fight each other for their own interests. But it was the first time that the Qiang people had been plundered by their own people like this, and it made the robbed Qiang people develop from indifference to disgust.

Originally, he lived well, but Cherrigi had to raise an army to rob the Han people, but if he couldn't rob the Han people, he would start with himself, without taking into account the feelings of the same clan, and the Qiang people who originally lived in Liangzhou wanted to drive the Xiqiang army led by Cherrigi out of Liangzhou even more than the Han people for a while.

Everything needs to be compared to see the good and the bad. The Han Qiang family proposed by the Han court was not taken seriously by the Qiang people at first, but because they no longer suffered losses in transactions with the Han people as before, the Qiang temporarily became honest. But now, seeing those Qiang people who were friendly with the Han people on weekdays and are now hiding in the city together, and thinking about their current situation, those Qiang people who used to treat the Han people with an indifferent attitude can't help but secretly regret it. If he had also befriended the Han people at the beginning and accepted the arrangements of the Han government, would he be able to hide in the city with his family now without being harassed?

There is no regret medicine sold in the world! Cherrigi also doesn't want to be a smelly shit that everyone hates. The Han city he will not be able to attack for a while and a half, although there are many people under his hands, but in the face of the tall city wall, the large number of people can not solve the problem. And the guards in the Han city also made Cherrigi frustrated. I thought that even if my martial arts were not the best in the world, they could be regarded as a few. But when attacking Zhangye, Cherrigi tasted defeat for the first time. The Han general named Zhao Yun was so good that he even picked out eight generals under him before the battle, and he almost folded in the hands of the other party when he went into battle himself. When attacking Jiuquan, the defender Pang De was even more brave, leading 3,000 iron cavalry in the city to disperse his Chinese army.

Brushing shoulders with death twice in a row made Cherrigi no longer dare to despise the Han army. Just when Cherrigi felt that this time the army was a little unprofitable, Han Sui's letter arrived.

Liangzhou has money and food, but the problem is that the money and grain are hidden in the city by the Han people, if the city is not breached, Cherrigi will not want to get those money and grain, and due to the reason that Liangzhou is vast and sparsely populated, there are not many cities in Liangzhou, and there are few villages, and most of the Han people live in the city.

If it weren't for Han Sui's letter, Cherrigi would have planned to ask Han Sui for money and food by retiring from the army as a threat. As soon as Han Sui's letter arrived, Cherrigi immediately became interested. If he can really capture the Son of Heaven of the Han people as Han Sui thought, then the benefits he can obtain will be immeasurably huge.

……

Yuzhong

This was originally a military important place used by the imperial court to guard against Han Sui, after Han Sui Ma Teng accepted the imperial court's edict, in order to show the sincerity of the imperial court, the Han army originally used to guard against Han Sui in Jincheng withdrew from Yuzhong, and now it has become an important place for Han Sui to garrison troops.

If the imperial army wants to enter Liangzhou, Yuzhong is the only way. Han Sui also regarded this place as an important stronghold against the imperial court, and arrived with heavy troops to try to fight the imperial court here.

Judging from the information currently available, the imperial court sent 40,000 troops this time, and the local county soldiers were not mobilized, except for the 10,000 Montenegrin troops originally scheduled to go to Liangzhou, the second army of Han'an and Xie Fu gave 10,000, plus the 10,000 pro-army led by Liu Xie, forming an army of 40,000 to rush to Liangzhou.

For the generals who led the troops, Han Sui made a serious investigation. When he was relieved, the imperial court seemed to be a little big this time, generals like Huang Zhong and Xu Huang did not come with the army, and the number of generals who came with Liu Xie, the son of heaven, except for Zhang Yan, who was familiar with it, was very unfamiliar to Han Sui. Han Sui didn't inquire clearly, if he knew that Liu Xie was followed by Tong Yuan and Wang Yue, the two masters, I am afraid he would not feel a little relaxed.

Cherrigi's army arrived before the imperial army's army arrived in Yuzhong. Treating this vital ally, Han Sui certainly did not dare to slack off, and personally went out to welcome Cheriji into the tent. It's just that at the moment when Han Sui held a reception banquet for Cheriji, the army led by Liu Xie was only half a day's journey from Yuzhong.

"What? The Han Emperor is coming? Cheriji was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately wanted to lead his troops to meet Liu Xie, but fortunately, Han Sui stopped him in time and persuaded Cherrigi to say: "Why should King Qiang be in a hurry, keep your spirits up tonight, and see tomorrow." ”

Under the persuasion of Han Sui, especially with the persuasion of his cronies Yadan, Cheriji agreed with some reluctance, preparing to capture the Han Son of Heaven again tomorrow.

There was nothing to do all night, and the next day it was almost noon, and Liu Xie led the army to Han Sui's camp. Looking at Han Sui, who was standing with Cherrigi in front of the battle, Liu Xie couldn't help but sigh in his heart. If you don't die, you won't die, although you do guard against Han Sui and Ma Teng, but if Han Sui can surrender to the court like Ma Teng, he will not treat Han Sui badly. It's a pity that Han Sui finally chose the path of opposing himself.

"Where is the Jincheng County Guard? The Holy One asked you to come forward and answer. A junior colonel rushed to the front of Han Sui's battle and shouted an order.

Han Sui didn't want to go, but if he didn't go, it would affect the morale of the army, so he had to take Yan Xing to the middle ground of the confrontation between the two armies. There were also two people from the Han army opposite, one of whom was Liu Xie, and the other Han Sui didn't know. But out of the consciousness of the martial artist, Yan Xing, who was in charge of protecting Han Sui, found that the person was not an easy person.

"Han Sui has seen the saint." Han Sui hugged his fist and saluted Liu Xie. Liu Xie didn't return the courtesy, just looked at Han Sui, and after a long while, he sighed and said, "Han Wenyue, does the imperial court have a place to treat you poorly?" ”

Han Sui opened his mouth and wanted to say yes, but the words were swallowed back when they reached his mouth. Strictly speaking, the imperial court really didn't treat itself badly, what it did to Ma Teng, what it did to Han Sui, and the monthly rations were never deducted. As for the fact that the food and salary he received was not enough to raise his own soldiers, the responsibility was not with the imperial court, but with himself. The imperial court gave a salary of 10,000 horses, except for regular armies such as Han'an and Xie Fu, which could reach the upper limit of 20,000, and the extra soldiers and horses of a private nature like themselves could only be raised by themselves. Ma Teng found a way to rob the Huns, and if he wanted to feed the extra people in his own golden city, he could only find a way by himself.

Seeing that Han Sui was silent, Liu Xie sighed again, "Han Wenyue, for personal gain, you did not hesitate to lure wolves into the house and poison your fellow clan, and now even I can't save you." Let you come, just to see you for the last time, you can do it yourself. After Liu Xie said this, he didn't look at Han Sui again, turned around and prepared to return to the formation.

"Holy and slow."

"Han Wenyue, even if you want to ask for mercy now, it's too late." Liu Xie turned to look at Han Sui and said.

"The Holy Lord misunderstood, Han Sui just wanted to tell the Holy Lord, please rest assured, this battle Han Sui is still mainly about capturing the Holy Lord, if it is not necessary, it will not hurt the Saint's life."

Hearing Han Sui's words, the person standing next to Liu Xie couldn't help but be furious, and was about to scold Han Sui, but Liu Xie stretched out his hand to stop him, shook his head slightly, and said, "Xingba, why bother with the person who is about to die?" Catch this thief in the next day, and then see what kind of face he is. ”

Speaking of Xingba, it makes people unconsciously think of Gan Ning. That's right, standing next to Liu Xie at this time is Gan Ning Gan Xingba. And the reason why Gan Ning appeared here is also thanks to Sima Yi, who previously accepted Liu Xie's suggestion to study at Jingzhou Shuijing Academy.

It was not difficult for Sima Yi to enter Shuijing Academy, he was talented in his own right, and the handwritten letter of Liu Xie, the son of heaven, also made Sima Hui of Shuijing Academy difficult to refuse. After Sima Yi became familiar with Shuijing Academy, he kept Liu Xie's reminder in mind that when interacting with people, he no longer relied on family background or appearance, but intersected with talent and learning. In this way, Sima Yi also made a few good friends, such as Pang Tong, who was ugly, Xu Shu and Shi Tao, who were not from good backgrounds. and Zhuge Liang, who is outstanding among the disciples of Shuijing Academy, and Meng Jian and Cui Zhou, who have a good family background, are equally divided into two factions.

Since Sima Yi came to Shuijing Academy after following Liu Xie's advice, he naturally cared about Liu Xie very much. I can't help much for the time being, so Sima Yi has always been very concerned about those who may be able to help Liu Xie.

Gan Ning can be favored by Sima Yi, which is also a coincidence. Gan Ning was originally a native of Ba County, but because he offended the local Haoqiang, he had to leave his hometown and start a business without capital. But being a water thief for a lifetime is obviously not Gan Ning's desire, in order to get ahead, Gan Ning wants to join the army with his own ability, so he personally led people to Xiangyang to seek officials. It's just that Liu Biao is a little similar to Yuan Shao, he values his background, and Gan Ning, a water thief leader, naturally can't get into his eyes.

However, Gan Ning didn't let Liu Biao pay attention to it, but Sima Yi, who really went to Xiangyang to do business at that time, took a fancy to it. Sima Yi is also a bold person, and he went to Gan Ning alone. Originally, Gan Ning didn't believe Sima Yi, but he was a little unwilling to let him continue to be the leader of the water thieves, so he followed Sima Yi's advice and took dozens of cronies to Chang'an to try his luck. When he set off, Gan Ning thought about it, if the Son of Heaven was like Liu Biao, he would come back and try it at Sun Ce. At present, Sun Ce and Liu Bei are fighting fiercely for the ownership of Jiangdong, and they have gone to a place where they can be useful.

It's just that he didn't expect that Gan Ning couldn't leave when he saw Liu Xie. Others don't know how powerful Gan Ning is, but Liu Xie is very clear. Among the generals in Jiangdong, in addition to Confucian generals like Zhou Yu and Lu Xun, only Gan Ning, a fierce man who dared to rob Cao Ying with a hundred horses, was the most loved by Liu Xie.

It just so happened that there were no generals available around Liu Xie, and Gan Ning came at the right time. Although Zhang Yan's martial arts are good, he still seems to be a little deficient in dealing with Yan Xing. Now that Gan Ning has been added, Liu Xie can naturally rest assured. At least when he fights, his side will not suffer.

Death for a confidant! Liu Xie's treatment of Gan Ning is not unimportant. A newcomer like Gan Ning, who has just arrived, was named his personal guard general by Liu Xie when he came, and this attention moved Gan Ning, who had just received a cold reception from Liu Biao. And Gan Ning did not disappoint Liu Xie, in the ring that Liu Xie set up in the pro-army for Gan Ning to be able to serve the public, Gan Ning defeated all those who came to the stage to challenge.

"Han Junshou, don't forget the agreement between you and me. There will be a great reward after the deed is done! Liu Xie, who was returning to the formation, suddenly turned around and shouted at Han Sui, who was also returning to the formation.

Han Sui was stunned for a moment, and then reacted, but by the time he wanted to refute, Liu Xie had already returned to the formation with Gan Ning. And when he returned to his home camp, he found that Cherrigi looked at him with a wary look.

"My lord, what do you mean by that?" Gan Ning couldn't help but ask Liu Xiedao.

"It doesn't mean anything, it's just to give that Han Sui some eye medicine." Liu Xie replied casually.

"Eye drops?" Gan Ning thought about it and reacted, but he was not very optimistic about whether he could achieve his goal. Seeing this, Liu Xie smiled and said, "Xingba, I don't care if he can succeed." Anyway, if we can do it for the best, if we can't do it, we have nothing to lose. You just have to remember to be careful of that Yan Xing, that is not an easy master to deal with. ”

"Don't worry, my lord, although Gan Ning is brave, he is not a reckless person, the person who came with Han Sui just now is Yan Xing, right?" Gan Ning nodded and asked.

"It should be him."

Liu Xie didn't expect that his final preparation for Han Sui would play such a big role. Originally, Han Sui planned to send people to take turns with Cherrigi today to test the reality of the official army. Unexpectedly, Cherrigie's attitude was very different from last night, and he refused Han Sui's request under the pretext that the soldiers and horses needed to rest after days of traveling.

Han Sui also took the Cheriji who refused to send troops, and the two had no subordinate relationship, not to mention that he still had to ask for help at the moment, so he had to send his own family horses out of battle. First of all, Cheng Yi and Ma Kan were defeated by the Han generals, and Han Sui had to send his trump card Yan Xing. When Liu Xie saw that Han Sui had sent Yan Xing, he smiled at Gan Ning, who was already waiting a little anxiously: "Xingba, your deal is coming, remember not to underestimate the enemy." ”

"Don't worry, my lord, Gan Ning is going."