"My lord, what are you?" Liu Xiu was puzzled.

"This is Zhong Qiang! This is Zhong Qiang of Jincheng! Zhang Ze was furious, pointed to the valley in the distance, and said loudly: "They passed through Jincheng, but Jincheng didn't have any news at all, without the cover of Jincheng people, this is simply impossible." ”

Only then did Liu Xiu understand what Zhang Ze meant.

The Qiang people are an ancient tribe, there are written records from the pre-Qin Qin period of Qin Ligong when a slave called Jianjian, in fact, the history is much earlier, it is said that Shennong is the Qiang people, so the surname Jiang. It's just that after integrating into the Chinese civilization, the Qiang people did not have too famous characters and did not leave any impression in their memories until the appearance of the sword.

The great-grandson of the sword, Ren Ren, is a relatively powerful leader in the history of the Qiang people in modern times, and the rise of the Qiang people is headed by him, and it is he who opens a historical chapter in the prosperity of the Qiang people again. Shinobu gave birth to nine sons, and his younger brother Wu gave birth to seventeen sons, these twenty-six people are the beginning of the twenty-six kinds of Qiang people, after hundreds of years of development, the Qiang people have developed into more than one hundred and fifty species, but most of the races are relatively weak, and some races have disappeared in the long river of history.

In the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, for various reasons, the rebellions of the Qiang people rose one after another, and they were at war with the Han Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty Gu Ran was dragged to exhaustion, but the Qiang people did not lose any benefits, and they also paid a huge price. The once powerful Dang Qiang and Xian Lingqiang were killed by Duan Cheng and the population was scattered, and the army was crushed, and now it is an inconspicuous small tribe.

Now the most powerful Qiang tribe in Liangzhou is Zhongqiang, it is said that there are more than 100,000 soldiers, but their range of activities has always been in the birthplace of the Qiang people, the head of the Cizhi River, that is, the west of Jincheng County, and the Qiang Lieutenant is set up there to monitor them. Hanyang and Beidi were killed by Zhang Huan and Duan Cheng - especially after Duan Cheng killed the Quartet, there were no more powerful tribes, collectively known as Sanqiang. There are thousands of big people, hundreds of small people, if there is advantage, they will gather, and if they are not profitable, they will be divided, and most of the time they have no power.

This is also one of the reasons why Yuan Shu came to make meritorious contributions vigorously.

But if Zhong Qiang appears here, it is not a question of whether he can make meritorious contributions, but whether he can survive. This also explains Liu Xiu's question, why there are so many Qiang people here suddenly.

In the face of Zhang Ze's anger, Liu Xiu was silent for a moment. He suspected that there was a shadow of Yan Zhong in this. If it was Yan Zhong who deliberately released water in order to make him make meritorious contributions, and let Zhong Qiang quietly pass through Jincheng County, cross Anding, and appear in the north, surround Yuan Shu, it is good, but Yan Zhong did not reveal any news to him, which is a bit excessive.

"My lord, can you be sure that the people of Jincheng have fornicated with the Qiang people?" Liu Xiu asked quietly.

"That's how it should be." Zhang Ze suddenly sighed helplessly like a deflated balloon. "Adults don't know that in the past few decades, Liangzhou has not been peaceful. There are very few registered households in Liangzhou, but it does not mean that there are few people in Liangzhou, but the vast majority of people are not registered in the imperial court. Take Jincheng County as an example, the upper household registration has been in the early 10,000s over the years, but is there really only more than 10,000 people in Jincheng? Absolutely not, the largest family in Jincheng, the Han family, the Bian family, the Wang family, and the Koji family, which family does not have a few thousand people? However, most of the people in their family are Qiang people, and they are not in the household registration, and they are ...... with the Qiang people. Alas! ”

Zhang shook his head and said no more. He has been a captain for several years, and his governance office is in Linqiang, Jincheng, so he is very familiar with the situation in Jincheng. In the last war, the reason why he was able to gather 10,000 troops to participate in the war was that he had the support of the Jincheng clans, but now that the people of Jincheng have done such a thing, he is very helpless.

When Liu Xiu heard him say this, his heart couldn't help but move, Han Sui is from Jincheng, as for the Bian family that Zhang Ze said, it should be the Bian Zhang he once invited, but the people didn't come, the Wang family and the Koji family don't know what the role is, but it can be compared with celebrities like Han Sui and Bian Zhang, and the strength should not be bad.

It seems that to defeat the Qiang people, it is not at all possible to rely on the men and horses at his disposal, and if he wants to succeed, he has to rely on the local strength of Liangzhou, without their support, it is not very realistic to establish a strong force.

"Zilie, can you hold Xiao Pass?"

Xu Rong nodded, and said lightly: "No problem." Although the Qiang people are menacing, it is not easy for them to break through Xiao Pass. However, please note that the Qiang people are good at running in the mountains, and if they can't break through the Xiao Pass, it doesn't mean that they can't enter the pass. He glanced at Liu Xiu and reminded: "If they disturb the tombs of the emperors, I'm afraid it will be bad for the general." ”

Liu Xiu also had a headache, in order to rescue Yuan Shu, he had already brought out all the county soldiers of Fufeng, and the Qiang people really had to cross the mountains and mountains into Fufeng, and Guanzhong really didn't have any troops to defend. It was he who transferred Xu Rong, the captain of Fufeng, to Xiao Guan, and if something happened because of this, he would first be impeached and behave unprepared.

But if he can't go out of retreat and focus on the defense of Guanzhong, what will Yuan Shu do? Just see him die at the hands of the Qiang? He was still counting on him to balance Yuan Shao's power. Others may not know Yuan Shu's thoughts, but he sees Yuan Shu thoroughly, in order to be able to compare with Yuan Shao, he is determined to inherit Yuan Kui's portal.

It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and he now deeply feels this helplessness.

"Anyway, we have to snatch Yuan Shu out first." Liu Xiu smashed the city wall hard, "Zilie, Lord Zhang, you are all very familiar with the situation of the Qiang people, let's see what we should do?" ”

Xu Rong looked at Zhang Ze quietly, waiting for him to speak first. Zhang Ze frowned: "The Qiang people are powerful, and we don't have enough troops, so we can't defeat them." What's more, the Qiang soldiers we could have counted on have now become enemies, and we can't believe it at all, only the big families who rely on Liangzhou are gone. ”

Liu Xiu knew what Zhang Ze meant, the soldiers and horses he brought from Linqiang were mainly Qiang people, and they were originally able to deal with some scattered Qiang, these people could be used, but now when they have to deal with Zhongqiang, the largest tribe among the Qiang people, these Qiang soldiers are difficult to trust. His defeat and Zhou Hong's death were largely due to the refusal of these Qiang soldiers to sell their lives, and even surrendered on the spot.

The only ones who can rely on are those big clans in Liangzhou, and the Qiang soldiers in their hands have been attached for many years, and they are much more reliable.

"The closest ones are Anding and Hanyang, and if the general contacts them now, it should be too late."

Hearing Zhang Ze's words, Liu Xiu became more and more suspicious of Yan Zhong. Yan Zhong is a native of Hanyang, how do you look at this matter and have anything to do with him. He sighed secretly, it's not easy to mix these days, there is no talent, think about talent, have talent, you have to be able to control him. Whether it's Jia Xu or Yan Zhong, they are all human spirits, and they will play some tricks if they are not careful, not to mention the best among people like Xun Yu and Wang Yun. It's a shame that in his previous life, he specialized in playing with people, but in the face of these masters, he still has a feeling that he can't cope with it.

In the final analysis, everyone is using each other, and if others can use you, at least it means that you have the value of use. If you don't have enough IQ and can't bring benefits to others, you can be sold with a turn of your eyes.

How did Lu Bu, the first fierce man of the Three Kingdoms, die in the end? It wasn't that he was used as a gun by those Chen Gong and Chen Deng, and he was not able to die against Cao Ying, and he was sold again after he was done. Chen Deng later became Cao Ying's official, if Chen Gong didn't offend Cao Ying and had no face to go back, it would be nothing, only the unlucky Lu Bu was repeatedly charged, and Liu Bei gave his surname with a gentle word. In fact, if you want to talk about repeatedness, who is more repeated than Liu Bei.

Speaking of Liu Bei, Liu Xiu wanted to laugh, this baby seems to have been quite close to the Yuan family recently, I don't know if I think the Yuan family's ship is bigger and more luxurious, but one thing is for sure, this baby must have smelled the breath of wind and rain, and was anxious to find a backer. In his eyes, although Liu Xiu's ship looks good, it is still too far from the Yuan family.

Of course, it is not surprising that he has this kind of thought, after all, Liu Xiu's status today is mainly from the favor of the Son of Heaven, once the Son of Heaven himself is difficult to protect, then Liu Xiu will naturally be unlucky. In terms of strength, even the Son of Heaven is not the opponent of the Yuan family, let alone Liu Xiu.

There's a long way to go.

"In that case, then please sit in Guanzhong, and I'll rush to Hanyang." Liu Xiu no longer hesitated, and decided to rush to Hanyang to meet Yan Zhong in person, the time was urgent, he had to make a promise on the spot and get the support of those big clans, otherwise the news would be sent back and forth, and the time would be delayed on the road.

Zhang Ze had no opinion, and he led the remnants of his defeated army to garrison Guanzhong to prevent the Qiang from attacking the emperor's tomb.

But Ma Yueyan stopped doing it, he dragged Liu Xiu and said, you are gone, what should Yuan Shu do? Who can guarantee that he will make it to you back?

Liu Xiu's hands are spread, I don't have soldiers, how can I save them, there are tens of thousands of Qiang people outside, I have less than 10,000 soldiers in total, and some of them are private soldiers who have just been put together, these people are okay to take care of the home and nursing home, and they have to fight with the Qiang people, they are not enough to fill the gaps between people's teeth. The soldiers led by Yuan Shu are more elite than mine, isn't he still surrounded by people?

Ma Yueyan said that he couldn't say it, but he just refused to let him go, he came to Guanzhong, not so much the edict of the Son of Heaven, but Ma Lun's meaning, the others lived and died and put aside, Yuan Shu couldn't die.

Liu Xiu was about to get angry, this sour scholar really wanted his life, if it weren't for his closeness to Lu Zhi, he would have been eager to kick him away.

"General, I don't think it's good to go this way." Xun You suddenly spoke. Liu Xiu was stunned, "What does Gongda mean?" ”

Xun You waved his hand and motioned for everyone to retreat, Ma Yueyan was very unhappy, but when he saw Liu Xiu's face, it was estimated that he would not go out, Xun You refused to speak, and he himself couldn't persuade Liu Xiu, so he had to give Xun You a asking look, and retreated uneasily. Xun You closed the door and said softly: "General, it is indeed a clever plan to ask the people of Liangzhou for help, but if the general goes like this, can they afford to look down on the general?" ”

Liu Xiu's eyes rolled, and then he understood. At this time, when you go to Liangzhou, it's almost the same as begging, and what the final result will be, it depends on the reward of others. If people don't look at you, no matter how good your attitude is, it's useless. In order to achieve an equal negotiating position, you must first show a certain level of strength. "So let's fight first?"

"What the general said is very true." Xun You spread out the map and pointed to the location of Shegu Mountain, "My lord, Xiao Guan is only three hundred miles away from Shegu Mountain, and it can be reached by light ride." Zhou Hong and Zhang led more than 10,000 horsemen to rush to help, the Qiang people could not take it lightly, their heavy troops should be here, and the troops around Shegu Mountain would not be too many. Yuan Shu didn't know the deployment of the Qiang people, otherwise with their strength, he would be able to get out of the siege. ”

Xun You explained to Liu Xiu the possible deployment of the Qiang people. Zhong Qiang is known as a hundred thousand people, but it is impossible for them to go out of the nest, at most they will send out some people, plus the local Sanqiang in the north to fight together. Yuan Shu brought more than 5,000 people, and he could support it for so long, so it can be seen that the strength of the Qiang people will not exceed 50,000. Otherwise, besiege Yuan Shu with ten times the force, and Yuan Shu would have lost nine lives. Zhou Hong and Zhang brought 10,000 people, Xiao Pass still had more than 2,000 defenders, and considering the difference in armaments between the two sides, if the Qiang people wanted to win a big victory, at least 40,000 people would come to intercept it, so that the people surrounding Yuan Shu would not exceed 10,000.

With the forces in Liu Xiu's hands, and Yuan Shu's internal and external cooperation, it is entirely possible to defeat the Qiang people and rescue Yuan Shu.

Liu Xiu woke up like a dream, and slapped his head hard: "Gongda, you are a person who woke up in a dream." ”

Xun You smiled slightly: "The general is a wise man, and it is inevitable that he will make a mistake." Yu's duty is to check and fill in the gaps for the general. ”

Liu Xiu immediately summoned the generals to discuss the matter and prepared to attack Shegu Mountain overnight. The Qiang had already defeated Zhou Hong and Zhang Ze, and they would soon return to encircle and annihilate Yuan Shu, leaving little time for Liu Xiu.

…… Shooting Gu Mountain, Yuan Shu sat next to the muddy water, tore off his helmet three or two times, and threw it into Bao Hong's arms: "Go get me some water, his mother's, I haven't washed my face for a few days, and I probably can't even recognize who my aunt is." ”

The subordinate took Bao Hong a look at Yuan Shu's bloodstained face, forced a smile, ran to the water's edge with the helmet, and took the cold water of the helmet in front of Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu first held his hand, then held his hand and rubbed it on his face, rubbing the dark red mud strip on his hand. Yuan Shu glanced at it and said with emotion: "I've killed a lot of people in the past two days, so much blood?" ”

Bao Hong nodded again and again: "No, in the past two days, the general has to go into battle every time to fight, and the number of people killed is not a hundred but eighty." ”

"So many?" Yuan Shu raised his eyebrows, and bared his teeth: "I'm quite capable of fighting." ”

"The general's martial arts are no worse than others." Bao Hong told the truth. Yuan Shu is different from Yuan Shao, he has been fighting on the street since he was a child, and he has a ranger swordsman with strong martial arts skills at home to guide him, and his skills are still good. The distress in Luoyueyuan was mainly because he had no experience in battle, and after several major battles, he had become accustomed to and enjoyed the pleasure of this kind of blood. In the past few days, because of the heavy casualties of the soldiers, he had to lead the guard battalion to fight, although there was a personal guard, but he was not seriously injured, and his martial arts became more and more exquisite.

"It seems that street fights and murders are really two different things." Yuan Shu finished washing his face, pulled up the big gun and wiped it clean, rubbed it hard, and rubbed his somewhat stiff face hot, then took a piece of cake and gnawed it, and said while eating: "I was beaten by Liu Xiu at the beginning, I have always been unconvinced, but now I know that this shaft has already fought in Northern Xinjiang and killed people, but it is much more ruthless than me." We are not wronged to suffer his loss. ”

Bao Hong thought about the fight and felt a little funny.

Yuan Shu curled his tongue vigorously and stirred it twice in his mouth, licked the shredded meat between his teeth, chewed it, and said with a smile: "You say, what will happen if I fight him again now?" ”

Bao Hong thought about it and said euphemistically: "Don't say if you can win, you shouldn't lose so badly." ”

"! You erect a pit for Lao Tzu. Yuan Shu rolled his eyes and scolded with a smile: "You think I don't know? It's no problem for me to beat that concubine these two times, but if I do it with Liu Xiu, I'm afraid that I will lose even more. ”

Bao Hong smiled, since Yuan Shu knew, he didn't need to say it anymore. He was really afraid that Yuan Shu would not know the severity, and then go to Liu Xiu to fight it alone.

"I heard Liu Bei say that he practiced the Five Elements Technique, and he was very fast." Yuan Shu took another big bite of the cake, "Liu Bei and I tried, this is stupid and dishonest, hiding it with Lao Tzu, deliberately letting Lao Tzu win, thinking that this will please Lao Tzu." Hmph, he also looks down on Lao Tzu too much. ”

Bao Hong frowned: "General, Liu Bei...... I don't think it's solid. Anyway, Liu Xiu is good to him. ”

"That's it." Yuan Shu suddenly felt a little bored, didn't say any more, buried himself in nibbling on two cakes, took the wine jug from the hand of a personal guard, raised his neck and poured two mouthfuls, gurgled and rinsed in his mouth, and then swallowed, looked at the southern sky, and suddenly sighed: "I don't know if Shoucheng can kill it and send the news to Chang'an." ”

"General, aren't you worried that Liu Xiu won't save him when he sees death?"

"I'm not worried." Yuan Shu turned his head and said without thinking: "Liu Xiu, although he is a little wilted, he has never done anything about this kind of thing. If he had this thought, wouldn't it be more convenient to let that concubine die in Mobei in the first place? ”

Bao Hong nodded and didn't say anything more. Liu Xiu can go to Mobei to save Yuan Shao at any cost, and he should also be able to save Yuan Shu, but what he has to worry about is that Liu Xiu's troops are limited, and he has more than enough strength but not enough strength. Ma Teng has been gone for three days, and he has not yet received news of reinforcements, Yuan Shu said with a relaxed face, in fact, he has panicked, and he will look to the south unnaturally whenever he has time.

However, Bao Hong and the others feel that since the first battle of Luoyueyuan, Yuan Shu has matured a lot, at least he doesn't put his hostility towards Yuan Shao on his face like before, he only knows how to slander Yuan Shao in front of Yuan Feng and others, and he now also knows that he wants to make meritorious contributions, recruit talents, and buy people's hearts, instead of only causing trouble like before.

"Then hopefully he'll be there soon." Bao Hong looked at the silent warriors in the distance, a little worried, less than a month out of the fortress, the battle in front of them was good, but later the Qiang people killed more and more, they found that something was wrong, but unfortunately it was too late, and the Qiang people who ran from nowhere surrounded them. Yuan Shu immediately decided to break through, but after retreating to Shegu Mountain, they could no longer kill, so they could only rely on the terrain of Shegu Mountain to hold on, and sent Ma Teng to rush out for help.

In many fierce battles, more than half of the soldiers were killed or wounded, and the most troublesome thing was that they were about to run out of food, and the arrows were almost used, and if the reinforcements were not yet available, they would inevitably die. Following Yuan Shu to fight was to earn war merits, no one expected this kind of accident, which was a very big blow to morale, including Yuan Shu himself, the frustration could be seen on everyone's faces.

Night gradually fell, the valley in the distance remembered the singing and dancing of the Qiang people, and could vaguely see their bonfire, Yuan Shu spat and scolded secretly, these Qiang people really enjoy it, even in the gap between the war, they did not forget to sing and dance, drink wine and eat meat, but their dignified Han Hou General hid in this valley and waited for someone to save his life.

Will Liu Xiu come? Yuan Shu said it very surely, but he was also beating a drum in his heart. The current situation is different from Luo Yueyuan, because of Zhang Jiao's matter, the Son of Heaven was very dissatisfied with Liu Xiu, and drove Liu Xiu to Guanzhong, which itself meant to punish him. Liu Xiu now has only a few thousand people under his command, even if the Haoqiang in Guanzhong can help in the face of the Yuan family, there will not be many people. There are forty or fifty thousand Qiang people who appear here, if Liu Xiu doesn't know the strength of the Qiang people, then he is likely to plant himself in it, if he knows, maybe he won't dare to come at all.

Anyway, if Liu Xiu wants to rescue him, this is not an ordinary difficulty.

Yuan Shu was lying on the grass, looking up at the night sky, there was no moon today, and he could see the stars in the sky. Yuan Shu doesn't understand astrology, but he knows that those great Confucians often talk about astrology, what does this star correspond to, what does that star correspond to, the Yuan family's biography "Meng Shi Yi" is no stranger to these, it is said that Yuan Shao likes to talk about these.

Yuan Shu didn't know which star was his own, but he believed that the star must be very dim now. Compared with Yuan Shao's concubine, his sister-in-law is just a gentleman in the eyes of many people, and he is a waste that is not worth mentioning. Those celebrities and scholars don't look down on him, not only that, but even those who have bad morals are unwilling to associate with him, such as the Nanyang man named Xu You.

In fact, Yuan Shu doesn't look down on those celebrities, as a member of the Yuan family, he knows too many celebrities' true faces, and he also knows how celebrities became famous, that Huang Ziai did not hesitate to divorce his wife in order to become the son-in-law of the Yuan family, he was just unlucky, he met a ruthless and spicy Xiahou clan, for a weak woman, who can know his despicability? He will become the son-in-law of the Yuan family, he will be famous all over the world, he will have smooth sailing in his official career, the third prince has no chance, but the high-ranking officials of 2,000 stones are not a problem.

Thinking of Huang Ziai, Yuan Shu thought of a few sisters, several of his sisters are married well, Yingchuan Li family, Chen Liugao family, Hongnong Yang family, which one is not a well-known family, but it is a pity that the little sister Yuan Hui, she was originally the smartest of the sisters, but her fate was also the most unfortunate. first almost married Huang Ziai, a hypocrite, and then was rejected by Liu Xiu, and finally entered the palace for the future of the Yuan family and became the woman of the Son of Heaven. Although Yuan Hui never said anything about the situation in the palace, Yuan Shu knew that she must have suffered a lot.

Thinking of this, Yuan Shu couldn't help but sigh, he hated Liu Xiu, if it wasn't for Liu Xiu's refusal to marry, if it wasn't for Liu Xiu's insistence on hitting the stone with an egg, he couldn't get along with the Yuan family, and made the Yuan family a little passive, why would Yuan Hui want to enter the palace to wait for the self-righteous son of heaven?

But now, he can't hate Liu Xiu, he still has to wait for Liu Xiu to save his life. He knew that Liu Xiu was not good for the Yuan family, but in order to compete with Yuan Shao, he could only win over Liu Xiu and call him a brother.

He couldn't tell whether he should hate Liu Xiu or be grateful to Liu Xiu.

If Liu Xiu doesn't come, then Lao Tzu will really be finished, and that concubine will know, I don't know if he will die of laughter.

Yuan Shu fell asleep in his cranky thoughts, until he was pushed awake by Qiao Rui. Qiao Rui's face was ecstatic: "General, the reinforcements are coming, we are saved." ”

Yuan Shu jumped up and rushed out of the big tent, and the majestic sound of war drums came from the valley in the distance, like a fairy music in the sky. Yuan Shu suddenly felt his blood surge, trembled all over, and roared angrily: "Beat the drum, attack!" ”

(To be continued)