For a long time in the past, the huge casualties after the battle on the battlefield have been the primary problem that plagued Ma Teng.

After several wars, few people can come back alive and sound. In the era of gunsmoke, precious human lives became cheaper, and the tragic situation of white-haired people sending black-haired people can be seen everywhere.

In every battle, when the hearse transporting the corpse returned to his hometown, Ma Teng's heart was about to break when he saw the mournful crying of the families of the fallen soldiers.

These sons and daughters who went back and forth with him were all young and strong people he personally took from his father and fellow villagers, and many of them were even the pillars of the family, the only strong laborers. Before leaving, he promised his young parents, wife and children that he would take their men to do earth-shattering things and make a lot of money, and send them back in five years or ten years.

Now, twenty years have passed. How many men are left who followed him to the east and west? Handful!

So, from that day on, he began to feel disgusted with death...... At least that's what he himself thinks.

After worshipping under Luan Yimen, when gunpowder became a necessity for the siege of the city and was distributed into the army, Ma Teng quickly found that the number of casualties among his soldiers and horses had been greatly reduced.

Just like the battle against Tianshui in front of you, you must follow the tactics of climbing the city with a conventional ladder and smashing the city, and the two sides will not be able to score the victory or defeat without killing tens of thousands of horses. But with gunpowder, everything became much simpler, and the towering city wall was like a paper beard in front of this powerful human weapon, and several rounds of projectiles fell, and half of the Tianshui city wall collapsed.

Ma Chao, Ma Xiu, and Ma Tie took advantage of the situation to lead the army into the city, and captured the city of Nuoda without much effort.

In this battle, the whole army lost a total of more than 800 people, such a small casualty rate in the past Ma Teng did not dare to think, the huge gap made him uncomfortable for a while, once thought that the statistics were wrong.

It took several verifications before it was confirmed that this was true.

"More than 800 people, more than 12,000 enemies were killed." Ma Teng clicked his lips, he should be happy about the smooth battle, but he always felt strange in his heart, and always felt that the battle was so smooth that it was over before he felt the atmosphere of the battlefield. To give an image example, the army under his command is like an elephant, Han Sui's soldiers and horses in Tianshui City are like ants, the two sides are not on the same order of magnitude at all, if the elephant spits and foams at will, the ants will be drowned, there is no challenge.

The Warriors have always been eager to compete with opponents of the same level, and Ma Teng always feels that he is bullying the weak, which is not fun at all.

However, he forgot that just a few days ago, he and Han Sui were still standing on the same starting line, and it was because Luan Yi supported him with a large amount of armor and ammunition that he became tall overnight.

……

The battle of Tianshui ended with Ma Teng's complete victory, the only regret is that Han Sui fled quickly, and on the night when he heard that Wang Fang's night attack failed, he fled west with 20,000 horses and went to Ma Teng's old nest - Wuwei.

With the experience of the Battle of Tianshui, Ma Teng knew that no matter how many people Han Sui had, no matter how huge the city was, it would be impossible to stop the steel torrent of his army. In order to recapture the entire Liangzhou as soon as possible, he decided to divide his troops on the ground, Ma Chao led an army of 10,000 to seize stability, Ma Xiu and Zhuge Liang led 10,000 troops to attack Zhangye, and he and Pang commanded the Chinese army to kill Wuwei.

The three-way army marched hand in hand, the momentum was like a bamboo, and the battle was victorious, and Han Sui, who was fighting, had no parry to deal with, and he only cared about fleeing with his head bored. Subsequently, Nan'an, Anding and other counties successively fell into the hands of Ma Teng.

Xiliang victory.

I have to admit that Han Sui's ability is only general, but his escape technique is first-class. Ma Chao led 3,000 cavalry to follow and chase, chasing for hundreds of miles day and night, but he was stunned and failed to intercept it. watched him run into the territory of the Qiang people.

Ma Chao did not hesitate and rushed into the hinterland of the Qiang people to continue tracking. The horse galloped for more than ten miles, and he was about to catch up with Han Sui, but at this time, a group of Qiang cavalry rushed out from the mountain, and there were tens of thousands of people in detail.

In the line of sight, this group of Qiang soldiers did not seem to have the intention of killing, and rushed to Ma Chao and his party a hundred steps away and began to line up, isolating Ma Chao and Han Sui. Subsequently, the first Qiang general shouted loudly in Qiang language, "Ma Mengqi, why did Ru Shuai's army invade the boundary of our department?" ”

Ma Chao lived freely in Xiliang and could understand the Qiang dialect, so he angrily replied in Qiang dialect, "Knowingly ask!" A certain family came here to capture the traitorous Han Sui on the orders of General Fubo. I advise you to step aside and not interfere. Otherwise, if you block it, you will be the enemy of my big man, and you will definitely attract Tianwei. ”

"Tianwei? Haha......" The Qiang generals laughed when they heard this, "Your so-called Han Court is now fighting endlessly, making a mess, and taking care of itself, where is the ability to fight my Qiang tribe?" Ma Mengqi, you are arrogant and ridiculous. Do you think that back then, your Han Court repeatedly came to attack my Qiang Department, and how many times did you win a big victory? This time, if your so-called heavenly power will come to my Qiang land, it will definitely make them have no return. ”

"Bold!" The roots of Ma Chao's teeth itched, if it weren't for the lack of soldiers under his men, he couldn't wait to rush forward and shoot the Qiang general off the horse.

At this time, I heard the Qiang general say again: "Han Wenyue is a distinguished guest invited by my Qiang prince." All the sons and daughters of the Qiang tribe will spare no effort to provide protection, if you want to continue to chase after me, pass me first. If not, retreat quickly. I hope you are doing it yourself. ”

Ma Chao is angry, but his mind is very clear. He knew that with his own men, it was impossible for him to be an opponent of more than 10,000 Qiang soldiers, and even if he was lucky enough to win, he would not be able to fight Han Sui again.

The hero doesn't eat the loss in front of him, Ma Chao turned the horse's head and turned his head to leave.

After retreating to Xiliang, Ma Chao reported the Qiang people's defense of Han Sui to Ma Teng, who quickly wrote a recital to report to Luan Yi, and begged the king of Qi for permission to give him some color to the invincible Qiang people.

……

Speaking of the Qiang people, according to legend, they are the descendants of Emperor Yan, which is part of the descendants of Yan and Huang as later generations. During the Yin Shang and Three Dynasties, they mainly lived in the northwest region located at the source of the Yellow River, and later migrated eastward during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and settled in the Hehuang area.

During the reign of Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty, in order to appease the Qiang people, he opened up the counties of Didao, Angu, Lintao, Didao and Qiangdao in the west of Xiliang. for the Qiang people to inhabit. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the once-glorious Xiongnu Empire on the grassland was defeated by the Han army and suffered heavy losses. Since then, the Xiongnu court has fallen apart and collapsed, and the Qiang people have taken this opportunity to ask for the control and enslavement of the Xiongnu and establish an independent minority regime.

After Wang Mang's rebellion, the Central Plains was in turmoil, and Zhuqiang took the opportunity to move inward, and set the tribe's garrison in the fertile Hexi Corridor and the Hetao Plain. And this area is the core area of the Silk Road to the west.

As a ruler who made his fortune on trade, as a futuristic man from the 21st century. Luan Yi is well aware of the importance of the Silk Road for the development and reproduction of himself, the Han Dynasty and the entire Han nation. Therefore, long before Luan Yi sent his troops to the west, he had already made a decision with the Korean Chinese military - the attack on Han Sui Ma Teng was still secondary, and the main strategic goal was to conquer the Qiang people and occupy the Hexi Corridor. In one fell swoop, he saved the Silk Road from Chang'an to the west to Qiuci in his own hands.

For this reason, when Luan Yi received Ma Teng's performance, he immediately approved Ma Teng's request. It's just that he told Ma Teng not to worry, this time he went out to the Qiang Road, if he didn't fight, he would have to beat the Qiang people and scatter them. Conquer the territory of the Qiang people in one fell swoop.

In this regard, although the Qiang population is not large, only more than 3 million, but as a former grassland nomadic people, they still retain a certain tradition of all the people being soldiers, and at least 7.8 million soldiers can carry swords to participate in the war, and it is difficult for Ma Teng's 40,000 people to do anything. It is better to stay a few days less, wait for the arrival of all the troops in the church, and then give a thunderous blow. At that time, the extermination of the Qiang people is just around the corner, and General Ma can also find Han Sui to settle the family feud.

Ma Teng knew that what Luan Yi said was right. Since the beginning of Emperor He, in the past 120 years, the Han court and the Qiang people have been fighting endlessly, more than 100,000 people have participated in more than 30 wars, each war court can not destroy the Qiang people, and the Qiang people can not enter Xiliang, the two stalemate for several months or even years, and finally ended in failure, consuming manpower and material resources out of thin air.

The hundred-legged insect is dead but not stiff, and in order to get rid of the Qiang people, it is necessary to launch the most fierce offensive against the Qiang people with all the strength of the whole country, as Luan Yi said, and completely conquer them.

The waiting time is always long, and Ma Teng finally looked forward to Luan Yi's army after three days of suffering in Lintao.

When the soldiers and horses arrived, Luan Yi immediately summoned all the civil and military forces to discuss the specific strategy after entering the Qiang land.

At the military level, Xu Shu suggested that Luan Yi divide the army into three, drive straight into the Qiang Road in three ways, and finally meet at the Qiang people's royal court stone city.

Xi Zhicai proposed to take it slowly. He said that the Qiang people seem to be extraordinary, but in fact they are not monolithic. There are more than 20 tribes of all sizes in its clan, including Xian Ling, Sister Le, Dang Fried, Dang Khotan, Feng Yang, Sister Prison, Sister Gang, Beipu, Wuwu, Zhong Cun, Gongtang, and Freeze, Fu Nan are all in Longxi, Jincheng, Shicheng and Saiwai. None at all, Shen Di, and some prison sisters are in Shangjun. The pious and part of the Peptune are in the West River. Each ministry has its own chieftain, and often attacks and plunders each other, and conflicts are constant.

Our army can take advantage of the contradictions between the Qiang people and take the initiative to unite with the Qiang people who have close contacts with Quan Wu, Shen Yi, Sister Prison, and Xianling and the Han Court, and attack those Qiang people who are hostile to the Han Court, so as to achieve twice the result with half the effort.

After the two finished talking about the countermeasures, Luan Yi immediately made a decision, not only adopting Xu Shu's statement, the soldiers were divided into three ways, but also following what Xi Zhicai said. The two strategies were two-pronged, and the battle of the Qiang people was immediately fully deployed.

Xi Zhicai immediately left Dazhai with a mission and personally wandered among the Qiang. or lure him with profit, or provoke him with hatred, and persuade Quanwu, Shen Di, Sister Prison, and first help Han Ting.