After the battle of the night attack, Li Wei's Xiliang army was defeated all the way to the vicinity of Meixian, and Jiang Qi's Xiyuan army had been chasing after him, but the cautious Jiang Qi did not go too deep, but ordered Zhao Yun to lead a thousand cavalry under his command to bite the tail of the Xiliang rebels, and he led a large army to echo Zhao Yun in the back.

Zhao Yun's cavalry was highly mobile and extremely fast. Li Wei tried to set up a trap to eliminate this entangled cavalry several times, but Zhao Yun escaped sensitively.

In the end, the Xiliang army stopped at Meixian and stopped running. If you keep letting people run behind your ass like this, I'm afraid you'll have to run back to Liangzhou. He still has nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses, and he still has the strength to fight, so there is no need to be chased by Jiang Qi's 10,000 people all the time.

The victory or defeat of the Western Liang army and the imperial court is not yet known.

The Xiliang army began to deploy defenses near Meixian, and Jiang Qi saw that the rebels suddenly stopped, put on a posture of playing with their lives, and immediately stopped, joined up with Zhao Yun, and confronted the rebels.

Li Dao, who had stopped, held a military meeting in the military tent. The Xiliang generals who participated in the meeting were all dejected and silent. I thought that I could take Chang'an and become the king in Guanzhong, but I didn't expect that the situation would suddenly take a sharp turn, and I was beaten overnight and lost my armor. Not only did the 30,000 men and horses lose one-third, but the grain and grass were also lost.

Fortunately, the Xiliang army looted some of the grain everywhere, barely enough for the whole army for more than half a month. On the one hand, Li Dao sent people to Hedong to urge grain, and on the other hand, he held a military meeting to discuss the next move of the Xiliang Army.

Seeing the silence of his subordinates staring at each other, Li Wei had no choice but to look at Jia Xu.

To be honest, now Li Wei is gradually dissatisfied with Jia Xu. At the beginning, he tried his best to tell himself that the imperial court's plan to delay the army was boiling frogs in warm water to the Xiliang army and persuading him to rebel and march into Luoyang. He also said that once he mastered the imperial court, he could command the world, and even if he didn't succeed, he could take Chang'an and dominate Guanzhong. But in the end, he was in such a situation that he couldn't advance or retreat, and Li Wei began to regret a little in his heart that he had embarked on this road of rebellion.

But now, Li Dao also understands that even if he regrets it, the court will not let him go easily, so he can only go all the way to the dark.

"Wenhe, what do you think I should do next?" Li Wei asked.

Jia Xu was the only scribe in the military tent wearing a black robe, which was very different from the brightly armored general next to him. However, Jia Xu's body is very strong, and he seems to be a military general. He is in his forties, with a wide nose and a wide mouth, and a pair of triangular eyes with a gloomy gaze.

Hearing Li Wei's words, Jia Xu's eyes shrank suddenly, and then smiled slightly, revealing a confident expression, and said: "Although our army has suffered a small setback, its vitality has not been greatly damaged. Judging from the intelligence collected along the way, the imperial court's reinforcements should only be more than 20,000 people, and they are still pouring out, and the rear must be empty. Now the plan is that the general should first deal with the lone army in front of him, and then contact the Kwantung princes to attack Luoyang from behind the imperial court. Taking advantage of the turmoil in the hearts of the imperial court, our army will concentrate its forces to fight a decisive battle with the imperial court! ”

Li Wei frowned after hearing this. In his heart, he didn't want to share the world with anyone. Contacting the Kwantung princes meant that he could not dominate the imperial court alone after capturing Luoyang in the future. This result was a little difficult for him to accept. Then he shook his head and said: "The Kwantung princes are all afraid, it is difficult to achieve great things, and it may be difficult to respond to our army. Why don't we defeat this annoying chasing army in front of us first, and then concentrate our superior forces to fight to the death with the imperial court, and then see who will die! ”

Seeing Li Dao say this, Jia Xu naturally understood Li Dao's careful thoughts. I didn't say much on this topic, but mentioned another thing: "The Qiang soldiers, Ma Teng Han Sui and other armies are all foreign aid from us, and they have not tried to contribute since the beginning of the army, and the general can summon them to come to converge, and then the troops will be strong, and they will be more victorious." ”

Li Wei nodded slightly. What Jia Xu said is quite reasonable, although he has had so many allies since he started his army, most of them have fought against the imperial court independently. Although there is also Li Dao's careful thinking that he does not want others to share the fruits of victory, other allies do lack cooperation with them.

Although Ma Teng Han Sui cooperated in defeating Huangfu Song, he then stood still near Qishan and disappeared. And since the Qiang soldiers let themselves into the Central Plains, they only cared about themselves and plundered everywhere, and they didn't have any cooperation with him at all. Not to mention that the old fox of Yizhou Mu Liu Yan, in addition to verbally saying two words of support, he completely sat on the mountain and watched the tiger fight.

Li Dao felt that it was time to let this voter do his best.

Therefore, Li Dao immediately ordered to send people to summon Ma Teng, Han Sui, Qiang soldiers and others to join him, and arranged for envoys to send envoys to Yizhou, hoping to persuade Liu Yan to send troops to help. In addition, he also ordered his subordinates to reorganize the army, preparing to destroy the pursuing Xiyuan Army in front of him first.

After the military meeting, when the generals were about to retreat, a soldier ran into the camp tent to report: Zhang Ji has returned.

Li Ji didn't expect Zhang Ji to come back alive, and after being stunned for a moment, he ordered the generals not to leave first, and went out of the camp with him to investigate.

Walking out of the tent, Li Ji saw that Zhang Ji and his party of more than ten horsemen had entered the camp and slowly walked towards him. When he got to the front, Li Ji couldn't help but be stunned when he looked at Zhang Ji's appearance.

In the past, Zhang Ji could be regarded as a senior general of the Xiliang Army, a person in power, and his subordinates were embraced from front to back, and he was majestic. But at this time, he can only be described by one tragic word. There were only a dozen subordinates behind him, all of whom were wounded, and two of them were still lying on horseback dying, apparently seriously injured. Zhang Ji himself was also hanging his arms around his neck, his face was full of filth, and he looked like he had escaped death.

When the two saw each other, Zhang Ji howled and cried before they could speak. Li Ji was also stunned, and after careful inquiry, he learned that Zhang Ji really escaped death this time, and there were few people left who died, and the most sad thing for him was that his only nephew Zhang Xiu also died on the battlefield in order to cover his escape.

Zhang Ji has no children, Zhang Xiu is his only heir, and now he has died in battle, which means that the old Zhang family has cut off the incense. Seeing Zhang Ji squatting on the ground and sobbing in pain, Li Ji couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt in his heart. After all, it was he who asked Zhang Ji to be a substitute for the dead ghost in the first place, which made him fall to where he is today.

The kind words comforted Zhang Ji for a while, and then ordered him to go back to the camp to rest and recuperate.

The next day, according to the deployment at the military meeting, Li Dao concentrated his forces and launched a counteroffensive against Jiang Qi's Xiyuan Army.

The Xiyuan Army, which had been chasing after him, saw that the Xiliang Army was attacking him in a desperate posture, and immediately smeared oil under his feet and walked. However, they did not run to the rear, but the whole army turned south and retreated.

The strange military behavior of the Xiyuan Army made the Xiliang Army scratch their heads, and the door to march into Chang'an was once again wide open, but Li Dao was not overjoyed, but fell into deep hesitation.

If he ignores the retreating Xiyuan Army and leads his troops to march into Chang'an again, if the Xiyuan Army goes around behind him, won't he be attacked by the enemy on his back? But if the troops are divided to pursue the Xiyuan Army, the forces to attack Chang'an will be insufficient.

These two dilemmas made Li Dao hesitate again and again, and he really couldn't choose, so he had to make up his mind to stay still, wait for the Qiang soldiers and Ma Teng Han to join him, and then concentrate his own forces, and then think about it in the long run when the advantage is obvious.

At the same time that Li Dao stepped up his contact with his allies, the imperial court's diplomatic work was also carried out.

First of all, in response to Liu Yan's request in Yizhou, Liu Wei returned his son who had stayed in the capital to Yizhou. And it was also a big discount, and it was sent back to two sons - the second son Liu Dan and the fourth son Liu Zhang.

The reason why he did this was that Liu Wei was also thinking carefully about his plans for the future. Liu Zhang is weak and indecisive, which is easy for the court to solve, while Liu Dan is more loyal to the court and close to the Han family. What's more, both of them are concubines, and the eldest son Liu Fan is still hostage in the capital. The two have the same status, neither is the legitimate successor of Yizhou, if Liu Yan dies, the two sons will inevitably fight, and then the imperial court can also take the opportunity to take the opportunity.

While appeasing Liu Yan, Liu Wei also began to solve the problem of Ma Teng Han Sui.

Speaking of Ma Teng and Han Sui, it can be said that both of them are the epitome of the tragedy of the Western Liang Qiang Rebellion in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

Originally, both of them were also officials loyal to the imperial court, Han Sui was still filial piety at the same time as Cao Cao, and he entered Beijing in his early years to persuade He Jin to kill the eunuchs. Later, He Jin did not need to do anything, and returned to Liangzhou, just in time for the Qiang rebellion caused by the cruel oppression and profound ethnic contradictions of the Eastern Han Dynasty officials. Han Sui was kidnapped and coerced into becoming a leader of the rebels, and began a career of rebellion.

Ma Teng, on the other hand, was originally a descendant of Ma Yuan, the general of Fubo, and served as a military commander under Geng Wei, the assassin of Liangzhou, and followed Geng Cong to crusade against the Xiliang rebellion of Han Sui and others. Later, Geng was defeated by the rebels and killed, and Ma Teng was also forced to surrender, and Han Sui became brothers of the opposite sex.

Later, after a series of internal power struggles within the rebels, Ma Teng and Han Sui gradually became the leaders of the rebels, and at the same time, the two were also regarded as confidants by the imperial court and wanted with a reward. Therefore, Han Sui also changed his original name to Han Yue to Han Sui to escape the pursuit of the imperial court.

However, although the two have been rebelling against the court for many years, they are not optimistic about their own rebellion. Originally, as court officials, they still hoped that one day they would be able to return to the right path, increase their officials and become knights, and make their wives and sons.

This time, in response to Li Dao and Guo Yan's invasion of Chang'an, he only had the intention of attracting the attention of the imperial court and getting more capital for returning to the imperial court in the future. The two of them were not optimistic about the success of Li Dao Guo Yan's Xiliang rebel army, so after cooperating with the Xiliang army to defeat Huangfu Song, they stayed still and waited for the changes.

After Cao Cao and Xun Yu both keenly discovered this, they proposed to Liu Wei the intention of recruiting An Ma Teng Han Sui. Cao Cao believed that although Ma and Han rebelled from thieves, since the rebels marched, they moved slowly and had a wait-and-see meaning. The imperial court recruited them, even if they could not be allowed to fight against Li Daoguo's rebels, but they could also break up the rebels' alliance and weaken their momentum.

Liu Wei was also quite tempted by this, and discussed with Cao Cao and Zhong Miao for a long time, and finally prepared the conditions for recruiting Ma Teng and Han Sui.

Liu Wei ordered Ma Teng to be the general of Andy, led Anding Taishou, Pengyang Hou, and garrisoned Linjing. Bai Han then was the general of An, led the northern land Taishou, the Marquis of Qingyang, and the garrison of Geju and Niyang.

The conditions in the edict are not unrich, Ma Teng and Han Sui can not only lead the army, but also govern, and they are completely the princes of the standard secession side. Although Liu Wei did not want the growth of the princes' separatist power in his heart, due to the complexity of the problem in the Liangzhou area, and Liu Bian's own eagerness to solve the Xiliang rebels, resume production, and accumulate strength, Liu Wei had to compromise. However, correspondingly, the imperial court will also ask Ma Teng and Han Sui to send their families into Beijing as hostages, so that the imperial court can contain the two of them.

After the edict was prepared, how to send it to Ma Teng Han Sui to recruit an enemy also became a problem. After all, the imperial court and Ma Teng Hansui's rebels hated each other and fought with each other for a long time. No one can fully grasp Ma Teng and Han Sui's attitude, and no one dares to guarantee that Ma Teng and Han Sui will suddenly turn their faces and kill them after reading the edict. Therefore, it is also a very dangerous thing to go to the edict, and the selection of envoys must be carefully considered. This person must not only be able to speak well and persuade Ma Teng Han Sui, but also have the courage to not be chaotic and not be surprised when things change.

Just as Liu Wei was thinking about the right candidate in his mind, Liu Bei took the initiative to volunteer to say that he was willing to send an envoy to the imperial court to announce the edict.

In the face of Liu Bei's self-recommendation, Liu Wei couldn't help but hesitate. He still believes in Liu Bei's ability, whether it is to lead the troops to fight or to dominate the party, it is more than enough, but he has never heard that Liu Bei is still a man of tongue. Originally, in history, this kind of work like going to other countries to carry out complex diplomatic activities was basically done by cultural people like Sun Qian or Zhuge Lian, but I have never heard of a time when Liu Bei personally took charge of the battle.

Liu, who was a little uneasy, asked Liu Bei: "Can Xuande be sure of this trip?" Do you need to find someone to help you anymore? ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the minister only needs to go alone, and he can hold the edict to descend Ma Teng, Han Sui and others." Liu Bei said.

I can do it alone, and I'm quite confident. Liu Wei looked at Liu Bei's confident appearance and asked with some worry: "This mission is quite dangerous, how many more people does Xuande bring?" ”

Zhang Fei, who was on the side, heard that Liu Bei was going to go to the rebels alone to announce the edict, and said worriedly: "Big brother, why don't I go with you, so as to protect the eldest brother." ”

Liu Bei shook his head and said: "There are many people, but it is not secret, if it is known by Li Dao, Guo Yan and others, it will only increase the variables, and it is the best policy for the minister to go secretly." ”

Then Liu Bei said to Zhang Fei with a straight face: "The big war is imminent, and it is the time to employ people before Your Majesty's driving, how can Yide leave easily, and you can serve in front of Your Majesty's account with peace of mind." ”

Zhang Feinuo retreated. Seeing that Liu Bei insisted on going alone, Liu Wei had no choice but to appoint him as an envoy to recruit Ma Teng Han Sui, but he didn't understand where Liu Bei came from to be so confident.

In fact, Liu Bei also has his own thoughts and plans for doing this. Since joining the imperial court, he has not made an inch, although he has been appreciated by the Son of Heaven to serve as the commander of the Northern Army, but with his ambitions, how can he be content with the status quo. Seeing that Cao Cao was Tuntian again, and he was also offering advice with the army, and he was doing a good job, like a rising momentum of ruling the world, Liu Bei's heart was naturally red. Liu Bei, who boasts that his ability is no worse than others, knows that if he wants to stand out in the imperial court, complete his ambition of making meritorious contributions and paying homage to the prime minister, he must constantly express himself on the political stage. That's why he took the initiative to ask for an envoy to announce the edict, and he went deep into the rebel camp single-handedly, in order to make a splash and attract the attention of the Son of Heaven and his ministers.

Liu Bei is not confident, but understands that wealth and wealth are in danger, and if he doesn't do something earth-shattering, how to break out of his reputation and gain political capital.

With the written edict in his arms, Liu Bei left Chang'an alone and took the first step towards fulfilling his ambitions in life.

(To be continued, stay tuned for the next chapter)